Nashville Approved Every Rezoning Request. Prices Exploded Anyway
transcript
show notes
Nashville approved every one of roughly 200 rezoning requests over two years and added about 75,000 housing units in a decade, and it is still net less dense than it was 25 years ago. Christopher Serkin says that's why he doubts looser zoning alone delivers affordability. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley ask what fills the gap if zoning disappears, and he says homeowners associations would, which he calls worse in every dimension. He also tells the story of his mother, a weaver in a Vermont town of 900, who helped the town buy a defunct ski mountain and lock it up with conservation easements. On Wall Street, he says he can't prove how much private equity moves prices, but his phone rang every few days with offers to buy his house.
Timestamps:
- (00:00) Forty-year-old first buyers – Home prices have outrun paychecks for a decade
- (05:08) The ski mountain buyout – A town of 900 blocks development permanently
- (10:05) Nashville said yes – Every request approved, yet the city got less dense
- (15:07) Public zoning or HOAs – What fills the gap if zoning vanishes tomorrow
- (18:03) Wall Street's real role – He admits he can't prove how much
- (21:04) The unsolicited offers – Private equity kept calling to buy his house