Anyone who’s tried to buy a house in Greensboro in the past few years knows how bad the housing shortage is and now the hot off the press Time magazine has an article highlighting the shortage.
The article notes that, of the 100 largest metro areas in the United States, Greensboro is the seventh worst housing market in terms of inventory.
The only metro areas coming in ahead of Greensboro in this unenviable category are Rochester, NY, Buffalo, NY, Allentown, Pa., Worcester, Mass., Grand Rapids, Mich. and Harford, Conn.
The article, which appears in the March 27/April 3 issue of the magazine, notes that Greensboro and other cities on the list “aren’t markets that are typically mentioned in the same sentence as housing crunch.”
The article lists several reasons for the lack of houses for sale in these cities, including that they are seen as relatively affordable places to live and a lot of investors have been buying up houses. Time noted that investors bought 24 percent of all single homes in 2021.
At a Guilford County Commissioners meeting last year, Tax Director Ben Chavis pointed out the somewhat concerning trend of corporations buying up a whole lot of homes in the county.
Leaders in Greensboro and the surrounding area are currently trying to address the problem – which is only expected to get worse because of all the successful economic development project wins such as the Toyota battery factory and Boom Supersonic.
Farmer and developer David Couch, who’s attempting to build a large residential development in Summerfield, has been fighting the Summerfield Town Council, arguing that the shortage of available housing in the area, along with the expected influx of new residents in the coming years, are two big reasons his project should be greenlighted.
Who hasn’t had umpy-ump offers to buy our homes? Over a period of time, landlords will come to own the great majority of homes. Then where will you live? We will be at their mercy.
Big Brother is moving in. Not much resistance from the indoctrinated sheep.
It’s all part of The Great Reset, Miller. In much the same way as Hitler outlined his plans in Mein Kampf (and no-one believed him), so the World Economic Forum proudly and overtly tell us “You will own nothing, and you will be happy”. They are attempting to make us into serfs, because they see themselves as our bien pensant Lords and Masters. They are quite clear about trying to subjugating us. They are pure evil – and they are already embedded in our government and permanent state (and much of corporate America).
According to The National Association of Home Builders, 24% of the purchase price of an average new home is required JUST TO PAY FOR REGULATORY COMPLIANCE. That’s all the pettifogging government rules, requirements, restrictions, regulations, and red tape.
And then the Left complains about the lack of affordable housing.
Gee, I wonder what could be causing that…
Hippocrapsy exemplified.
David Couch was offered reasonable alternatives for his development in Summerfield which he declined because the conditions didn’t meet his proposal for the number of units he wanted to build on his property. He’s trying to gain support from the public by suggesting that he’s providing “affordable” housing when in fact he is attempting to create an island of Greensboro within the city limits of Summerfield which already has established housing regulations that Couch doesn’t want to conform with. Therefore, he’s decided to ask the State Legislator to “de-annex” the property where he plans to build this development so he can get what he wants instead of abiding by the rules of the city in which he lives.
Giving permission to Couch to go around Summerfield city’s rules is simply wrong. It’s like allowing a kid to ask their next-door neighbor to make all the decisions about their discipline matters because they don’t like how their parents handle the way they’re being raised at home. It’s not fittin’, it’s just not fittin’.
“Farmer” David Couch. . That’s absurd. Summerfield farms is a dog and pony show to Green-light his urbanization plan for Summerfield.
Sad to see a Big Government bureaucrat disparaging businesses like this. If these investors don’t run their housing well and don’t rent out at a competitive rate, people can just move somewhere else! What’s the alternative!? The government builds housing and rents it out at an affordable rate because they’re not driven by a profit? No thank you!
I’m afraid it is happening on such a massive scale that normal capitalism supply and demand won’t fix it. A recent Newsweek article stated that 3 houses are being sold for every one listed. If 2 out of 3 are being gobbled up by big business there won’t be any competition. They are killing the American dream.