It is easy to look around and think that things have always been the way things are now. It is easy to overlook the fact that hollow, empty, crime and poverty stricken cities of the 70s were not the way things were in the 50. Or that many cites are much better off now than they were in the 70s.

The middle class dream of a single-family home on a half acre of land and miles and miles of suburbs was a new thing in the late 40s. In the 20s there were cities and rural farming areas with very little in between.

Nothing stays the same.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/subprime

The more things change, the more they become insane.

(Yes, I know that's not exactly the right quotation, but it's how I think it is.)

Sue

Glad I moved to an old neighborhood. (For CA at least!)

Conversely, there are many cities that are worse off now than they were in the 70s as well. I believe the demographics just shift over time from one set of locations to others.

The deciding factor in suburban sprawl was transportation. Mass transit and a robust highway system spawned a commuter culture. Now that most of the viable commuter living space has been developed around the metro areas, there's not much else left.

Someone had a theory that traffic congestion simply rises until it is intolerable. If you add another lane to a highway, for instance, the traffic eases momentarily until people start taking advantage of the improvement to accept jobs that are farther away. I guess it could be called a variation on the "Peter Principle"

If metro areas are now saturated, it seems that the time is ripe for some brand new cities to spring up. A large manufacturing company could make a killing by buying up a bunch of land in the middle of nowhere and building a plant in the middle of it. People start moving into the area to work in the plant and next thing you know they're complaining about the traffic

Then the company could start selling off the property to the gas stations and big box stores...

Shhhhhh!!! Don't give them ideas!!!

-Blast

They are already doing that, seen that ad for Kia lately where they built an all new plant? Companies like Kia, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota go into rural areas and let the local .gov try to get them to choose their location by offering incentives such as no property taxes for x years. Then they built their plant and hired on anyone living in that area. Thats all good as long as that company never goes out of business or closes that plant, then you have a bunch of smaller Detroits.

Yeah, well good luck with the environmental regs, the code enforcement, the urban growth restrictions, and the financing, to name a few obstacles to incorporating undeveloped areas. Many of the local rural governments are run by farmers and ranchers who really don't want to see another urban eyesore in their area jacking up property values and driving them out of business. At least that's what I've seen.

I hear there are some pretty good deals in Las Vegas right now.

Not only is it probably the capital of neon, recently #1 in growth, and now they're #1 in home foreclosures. About 200 miles of sand in every direction.

Sue

A house is only worth what it pays you to live there.

Just give a bit of thought to how many ghost towns there are in spite of population growth and it becomes clear.

There were all sorts of towns built all over America, Canada, Mexico and South America to serve a single industry or exploit a single resource.
Old farming centers on the prairies, mining towns in the desert, abandoned mill towns in the north east.
When the industry failed or the resource was depleted then the people left.
The industry might have failed because the technology changed and it became obsolete. It might have failed because of trade or tariff changes. No difference
The process is still going on.
It goes on even when the general economy is booming.

Some towns are fortunate enough to be able to change their business and find new sources of income, but far too many just close and decay.
It is not just in the Americas either. You find ghost towns in ruins all over the world.

So a house is only worth what it pays you to live there.