Construction Costs
The processes of clearing land, building foundations, and making space for parking are three of the most expensive components of the construction process. Zoning can help reduce the costs to deliver more affordable housing supply.
Brookings
New research examines ways multifamily housing costs can be reduced through design and construction decisions.
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
It’s not "luxury" factors that make housing in Washington, D.C., extremely expensive.
WAMU
With an aggressive plan to build out numerous public transit lines in time for the 2028 Olympics, local officials are scrambling to fill funding gaps as prices continue to rise and catch planners and officials by surprise.
Los Angeles Times
Why isn't more being done to reduce transit construction costs in the United States?
Marginal Revolution
The march of progress continues.
Curbed
A new 3D printer, coming soon to the market, promises serious construction cost savings in an era of seriously expensive construction costs.
Curbed Austin
Due to various market and industry factors, developers are not planning to start many new construction projects in 2019.
San Francisco Chronicle
Los Angeles is grappling with the rising costs of building housing for homeless people. Rethinking the standard process is a way to save time and money.
Los Angeles Times
With the price of steel increasing significantly since the beginning of the year, the construction industry has little choice but to build through a more expensive process.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
The problem of expensive transit investments isn't unique to New York City.
Curbed SF
The California Energy Commission will decide on new energy standards for residential construction this week.
The Orange County Register
Inclusionary zoning hasn't helped as much as the state of Oregon was hoping when it passed a law to lift restrictions on the policy in 2016. Construction excise taxes could be the next policy to catch on around the state.
Mail Tribune
A new report from the Regional Plan Association identifies the nature of the problem with the New York MTA's construction costs, and recommends 11 possible solutions.
The New York Times
The price of a permit to build an accessory dwelling units in the city of Thousand Oaks in Southern California is prohibitive—putting the permitting fee in opposition to the stated intent of the city's zoning code and state law.
Thousand Oaks Acorn
Costs for the initial construction segment, 119 miles from Madera to just outside Bakersfield, jumped $2.8 billion in what the consultant called the "worst-case scenario," to $10.6 billion, or over $89 million per mile.
Los Angeles Times
The New York Times devotes feature-length coverage to the soaring costs of subway construction in New York City, where the cost of construction has reached as high as seven times the average around the world.
The New York Times
Blog post
Rejecting the common argument that cities can never be affordable because of high construction costs.
A new study explains why so many small homes have such a massive price tag in desirable coastal areas: It's not the coast of building; it's the value of the land.
Buildzoom
While productivity improves in almost every sector of the U.S. economy, it's dropping quickly in the construction industry.
The Economist
