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▲ 133 r/yimby+1 crossposts

Western USA: Home prices vs Homes Built

It's simple

Build more housing

This chart compares housing construction and housing prices across Western U.S. metropolitan areas with populations above 200,000. Housing construction is measured as the annualized number of housing units built from 2000–2024 per 1,000 housing units that existed in 2000, using current metropolitan-area boundaries. Prices are July 2026 median listing prices per square foot. Housing-stock data are from the U.S. Census Bureau; price data are from Realtor.com.

Data:

Metro

Units/year per 1,000 units circa Y2K

July '26 $/ft²

St. George, UT

57.1

$287

Provo–Orem–Lehi, UT

47.6

$220

Greeley, CO

47.4

$220

Boise City, ID

36.7

$298

Bend, OR

33.9

$375

Las Vegas, NV

33.0

$262

Kennewick–Richland, WA

27.7

$262

Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler, AZ

27.5

$267

Lake Havasu City–Kingman, AZ

26.6

$247

Prescott Valley–Prescott, AZ

26.6

$325

Reno, NV

26.1

$337

Fort Collins–Loveland, CO

25.8

$272

Ogden, UT

24.0

$241

Colorado Springs, CO

22.9

$234

Yuma, AZ

22.4

$227

Olympia–Lacey–Tumwater, WA

22.4

$295

Salt Lake City, UT

22.1

$265

Denver, CO

21.4

$284

Las Cruces, NM

21.3

$186

Bellingham, WA

19.1

$380

Seattle, WA

18.3

$438

Stockton–Lodi, CA

17.4

$310

Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario, CA

17.1

$333

Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA

16.8

$306

Merced, CA

16.8

$269

Tucson, AZ

16.5

$224

Visalia, CA

16.0

$249

Medford, OR

15.7

$278

Bremerton–Silverdale–Port Orchard, WA

15.7

$323

Bakersfield–Delano, CA

15.7

$232

Sacramento–Roseville–Folsom, CA

15.2

$344

Albuquerque, NM

15.0

$223

Spokane, WA

14.8

$236

Boulder, CO

14.5

$407

Anchorage, AK

14.5

$268

Fresno, CA

14.3

$263

Salem, OR

14.3

$286

San Luis Obispo–Paso Robles, CA

13.1

$582

Chico, CA

12.3

$267

Eugene–Springfield, OR

11.5

$312

Yakima, WA

11.2

$244

Modesto, CA

11.0

$307

San Diego, CA

11.0

$600

San Jose, CA

10.9

$797

Vallejo, CA

10.7

$340

Honolulu, HI

10.3

$708

Santa Rosa–Petaluma, CA

9.4

$553

Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura, CA

8.9

$539

Salinas, CA

8.0

$686

San Francisco–Oakland, CA

7.9

$629

Santa Maria–Santa Barbara, CA

7.4

$880

Los Angeles–Orange County, CA

6.6

$659

Santa Cruz–Watsonville, CA

6.6

$731

  1. U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 2024, B25034 “Year Structure Built”

[https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B25034\](https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B25034?utm\_source=chatgpt.com)

  1. U.S. Census Bureau — 2000–2010 Intercensal Housing Unit Estimates

[https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/popest/intercensal-2000-2010-housing-units.html\](https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/popest/intercensal-2000-2010-housing-units.html?utm\_source=chatgpt.com)

  1. U.S. Census Bureau — Metropolitan/Micropolitan Delineation Files

[https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/metro-micro/about/delineation-files.html\](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/metro-micro/about/delineation-files.html?utm\_source=chatgpt.com)

  1. U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 2024, B01003 “Total Population”

[https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B01003\](https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B01003?utm\_source=chatgpt.com)

  1. Realtor.com Economic Research — Residential Real Estate Data Library

[https://www.realtor.com/research/data/\](https://www.realtor.com/research/data/?utm\_source=chatgpt.com)

  1. Realtor.com — July 2026 Monthly Housing Trends

[https://www.realtor.com/research/july-2026-data/\](https://www.realtor.com/research/july-2026-data/?utm\_source=chatgpt.com)

u/LehmanNation — 2 days ago
▲ 38 r/yimby+1 crossposts

Household size shrinks as seniors age — why we have to build housing even if population doesn’t increase

Interesting article in the LA Times focusing on Marin County but applicable to most high cost metros. Seniors are staying in the houses they raised their families in, going from many people to 2 or 1. As the demographics tilt to a higher and higher percentage of seniors (in Marin County people over 65 are 40% of the population), there are fewer people in the same number of houses.

“The number of people per unit has been going down,” said Eric McGhee, policy director and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. “It’s not necessarily an unhealthy development, we just have to understand ... we’re going to have to build more housing than the population numbers might otherwise expect.”

latimes.com
u/Plaid_Crotch — 1 day ago
▲ 7 r/yimby+1 crossposts

Discussion: If immigration drops but housing stays expensive, what will politicians focus on next?

A lot of the debate around housing and the cost of living focuses on migration. The common argument is that lowering migration numbers will fix the housing market.

At the same time, Australia has an ageing population. Government programs support retirees staying in their family homes as they age. On top of that, state stamp duty makes moving expensive, and keeping the family home exempt from the pension asset test means staying put makes the most financial sense.

If migration drops over the coming years but housing stays expensive and hard to find, where does the political debate go next? Which policies will politicians and the public target?

  • Tax Changes: (e.g., tweaking stamp duty, negative gearing, capital gains tax discounts, or including the family home in the pension asset test)
  • Building and Zoning: (e.g., forcing councils to approve more homes, easing zoning rules, or building more medium-density housing)
  • Market Rules: (e.g., tougher rules for landlords, limits on Airbnb/short-term rentals, or more incentives for build-to-rent projects)
  • Intergenerational Equity: (e.g., tackling the growing wealth gap between young renters and older homeowners)

When migration is no longer the main talking point, what do you think becomes the main focus of parliamentary debate?

reddit.com
u/Willing_Board_669 — 1 day ago
▲ 6 r/yimby

Home Price vs Home building graph

I remember seeing a graph that showed zero American cities built lots of homes and also had expensive homes. X axis was price, Y axis was growth rate, and each dot was a US city. I can't find it on Google or anything, does anyone know where it is?

reddit.com
u/LehmanNation — 2 days ago
▲ 36 r/yimby

What can we do to encourage more build-to-buy condo development?

I’m wondering if multi-story condos could be a scalable way to provide home ownership for people in metropolitan areas

reddit.com
u/TheRealChizz — 4 days ago
▲ 5 r/yimby+1 crossposts

Unused Parking Lot on Ten Eyck

Kinda shocking that there is this parking lot right off of Ten Eyck and Union which is in utter disuse and is overgrown with vegetation.

This parking lot is walking distance to three train lines (G, L, JMZ) and could fit dozens of apartment units.

At a moment when active parking lots across the city are being converted into housing, crazy that whoever owns this lot isn’t even using it for parking!

Seems like a no brainer for new housing in a neighborhood that desperately needs it.

u/General-Ad3694 — 5 days ago
▲ 204 r/yimby+2 crossposts

Rent geared to income seems to be the only possible solution to the unaffordability crisis in Canada.

As the cost of everything increases, and wages stay stagnant, people are increasingly becoming less able to simply live, and work, and eat, and have shelter… To survive.

If employers aren’t willing to compensate workers fairly given the current conditions, then something has to give. If a full time employee makes 30$+ /hr can barely afford a one bedroom apartment, let alone getting into a mortgage, that’s a serious problem.

So if employers won’t increase wages, then property owners who rent to people who can’t afford to buy, need to take a bath.

It’s a battle of the ownership class, will property owners who rent to whoever demand increased pay for workers, so they can charge more for their rental unit…

Or, will employers tell property owners to go fuck themselves, and not increase wages so no one can afford to even rent, let alone buy.

It feels like a race to the bottom.

The only solution that seems sustainable, is rent geared to income. If the employer only pays you so much a month, 30% of that amount is what you can pay your landlord.

Point final.

I would like to start a respectful healthy debate amongst the community, curious as to what the Reddit hive mind thinks…

reddit.com
u/One_Firefighter336 — 8 days ago
▲ 86 r/yimby

The saga of the "Historic Laundromat" in San Francisco finally has a conclusion in sight

Not sure if you guys have heard of this one.

This Insane Battle To Block a New Apartment Building Explains Why San Francisco and Other Cities Are So Expensive

Back in 2014, a laundromat owner submitted permits to demolish his laundromat and build a 75-unit apartment building in Mission District, San Francisco. Preservationists sued to block it on the grounds that the space had been used for community organizing in the past. In 2017, the city forced the owner to fund a $23K, 137-page historic study before his already-approved permit could proceed.

The study found that the building was, in fact, not a historical building but was blocked again on the basis that shadows would partially block a school playground that was already covered by mature trees. I would encourage you to watch the video here, some of the statements in the hearings were absolutely nuts. A shadow study was completed and again found to not be an issue and the property was finally entitled in 2018.

In 2019, the entitled property was sold to a developer for $13M and they demolished the laundromat in 2022. Now, finally, the building is under construction in 2026, slated to be opened in 2028.

Here's the website of the new apartment building

u/Tandrae — 7 days ago