Subject: Re: Berkshire and Tariffs
I've read estimates that almost 25% of a home's price in the US can be attributed to regulations...I've read estimates that this figure in a number of other major industrialized countries such as Australia, UK, Germany, Japan comes out to only around 10%. If those countries can get by with 15% less of a home's price in terms of regulation costs, I wonder why we in the US can't.
It's a serious situation for upcoming generations.
Yeah, there is something of a movement going on in the US to make it easier to build housing. A big part of the problem is local control of stuff like zoning and building regulations. NIMBY is an understandable reaction by any person faced with a big development coming to their neighborhood, but the laws empower the NIMBY far too much in this arena.
Another part of the problem is voluntary near-permanent down-zoning of massive amounts of lands that are limited by deed restrictions and HOAs to a suburban low-density development pattern.