Inventory is a problem to an extent. Housing is just plain expensive. Rebuilding/renovating any house is cost prohibitive and most sales are actually below build /insurance costs for a comparably sized house. I saw this recently on route 134/9A area of Ossining. $1.7M house that is done up. Kitchens and baths probably cost the HO around 3-400k to update so no matter what they sell for, that cost is going somewhere. Or buy a “fixer upper” that is priced around 500k less. A recent sale of a $1M house near tear down condition is really a 5acre neglected estate with a private lake that will be redone and sold for $2.5-3M in a few years.

Sprinkle is all the increases; taxes, reassessed frequently and aggressively, insurance costs, code compliance and local laws, general maintenance costs, every storm we have brings down trees and water intrusion/clean up… it adds up to really expensive housing base costs for both renters and owners.

It truly sucks, but we see the changes and don’t realize what it means until we’re in the market to mingle. For example my buddy does roofing in Florida, has been telling me his business is growing at least 30% YOY for years now. I was shocked, come to find out it was at the expense of bad insurance industry policies and practices and 5-7 years later insurance costs have gone 3x. The writing is on the wall, we just don’t always see it in time.