Smart Growth v. Past Growing Trends
The
housing market we see emerging around us more and more is full of life
and energy, but when you look deeper, it still bears the faded scars of
the market collapse—and it seems consumers are learning from them.
People are actively choosing to control the real
estate market. This is an emerging trend never seen before. People and
their values are beginning to trump the allure of best deal mentality
and this is driving force for the market.
Not
visa versa (where the market prices i.e. cheapest supplies are
controlling population movement). This break from longstanding
traditional norms is the conclusion the report titled “Reset: Assessing
Future Housing Markets in the Rocky Mountains” reached. The report took a
sampling of housing starts, multiple listing services, and surveys from six communities around the Rockies—Bozeman
included—and found, in all the markets studied, there was a strong
desire for growth, but not just growth itself as has been seen in the
past with trends of urban sprawl. Instead, this idea of ‘smart growth’
has really taken root.
Just What Is Smart Growth:
Smart
growth is a logical reaction to the fact that mortgage meltdowns are a
catalyst to great economic recessions (spurred on by under regulation of
finance and reckless risk-taking). This realization has deeper meaning
in its relation to community development and traditional city growth
patterns. The divergence between city centers and the suburban fringe
allowed the suburban elements to fall into the mortgage hole first and
pull the city centers with them as they fell. Since that initial fall,
the recovery has seen a structural paradigm changing shift—we are now
seeing the reverse of what happened in the 1950’s. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/opinion/the-death-of-the-fringe-suburb.html?_r=0)
The
buzz phrases of Generation Y and Baby Boomers are still very real and
active agents in shifting the market’s landscape, but these two
demographics of people are both undergoing dramatic life changes
directly connected to their housing situations. “Our communities are
changing and what people want out of life is changing” (Randy Carpenter
director of the Northern Rockies program of the Sonoran Institute). This
is the great convergence of needs. Baby Boomers are seeking to be near
medical centers and other conveniences and Generation Y is just reaching
into the market only able to afford the most utilitarian of homes, apartments and condos. The big home with a big lot is, although not gone by any means, a fading trend.
A mass exodus of what is being declared the ‘exburbs’ and a strong revival of city center is the soon to be norm nationally. Bozeman, Montana
data reveals we are certainly now immune to this. In the past 11
months, the urban center we have here (near the Emerson Cultural Center,
Galligator, and Sourdough Trail) represents the bulk of remodels and
renovations totaling nearly $2 million of spending. Over that same time
span, $23 million went into communal living spaces such as condos,
townhouses and duplexes.
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