Were Land-Use Regulations A Cause of the Housing “Bubble”?
Thursday, September 9th, 2010Guess what? At long last somebody has come along and made the case for the connection between land-use regulation and the rise in housing prices that led to the collapse of the “bubble” in 2008. And not just any ol’ somebody. The author of this new book is Claude Gruen, a well-known planning maven who knows what he is talking about.
Gruen’s new book is New Urban Development (Rutgers Univ. Press 2010) Here is the publisher’s blurb:
“The recent recession is one result of how local planning laws and practices have stifled competition, discouraged innovation, and artificially pushed up prices in America’s most economically vibrant regions. Economist and consultant Claude Gruen unravels the story behind how these unintended consequences have resulted from the evolution of local zoning, growth controls, and laws intended to increase housing affordability.”
Sounds right to us.