If you rezone some area, there are already going to be some number of units on the market to begin with. Then add developers willing to pay more than the current market price because it has become profitable and you get even more.
> Usually several adjacent plots to have enough space to build - get them all to sell
This is by no means necessary. You buy one plot of land, replace a single house with a 5-story condo containing 10-20 units. The whole idea is that you don't need a lot of land but rather taller buildings.
> Planning permission
This is the same premise as zoning.
> Profit in the proposed development
If you can buy a unit for e.g. $500,000 and build 20 units that each sell for $350,000, that's likely to be profitable.
> The buyer
The problem we're trying to solve is the huge amount of unmet demand for housing. If you ran out of buyers the problem is solved.
> If you can buy a unit for e.g. $500,000 and build 20 units that each sell for $350,000, that's likely to be profitable
True, forgetting construction costs and assuming you have a gun to point at the land seller's head to sell cheap.
> This is the same premise as zoning.
No you need to get approval to build the thing. Zoning is one aspect. Necessary but not sufficent.
> This is by no means necessary. You buy one plot of land, replace a single house with a 5-story condo containing 10-20 units. The whole idea is that you don't need a lot of land but rather taller buildings.
Depends. Maybe quarter acre is enough but typical burbs you may have 200-400sqm. Depends what country I guess.
Hard to do this individually. And profitably. That is why in London you see long streets of appartments 5 stories high. Or maybe they were houses but already terraces so easy to convert. It will all depend on the specifics but most often you need to join lots unless fortunate to have a big plot of land or something that only requires repartitioning.
> The problem we're trying to solve is the huge amount of unmet demand for housing. If you ran out of buyers the problem is solved.
> True, forgetting construction costs and assuming you have a gun to point at the land seller's head to sell cheap.
$500k is more than the median US house price and the construction company is in the business of doing construction. The construction costs are their profit.
> No you need to get approval to build the thing. Zoning is one aspect. Necessary but not sufficent.
The premise is that you're going to reform planning and zoning to allow new construction. That implies changing the rules so that the planning people are going to approve it.
> Maybe quarter acre is enough but typical burbs you may have 200-400sqm.
The lot size? A lot of these places are currently a single house on a one acre lot.
> I meant buyer of the land.
The buyer of the land is the construction company.
Neighbours can get together to sell their land together, then you can set minimum prices etc. Of course, it requires only one owner not to join for this to not work, but depending on their location they might experience a lower QoL due to construction and a changed neighbourhood if their neighbours sell.
