3.1 Some Evidence on the Recent Boom 57 in Land and Housing Prices

Against reductionism: the relations of consumption as a mode of social structuration

“…There is considerable controversy concerning the status of home ownership as an investment (Edel et al, 1984;Grebler and Mittelbach, 1979;Johnson, 1981;McFayden and Hobart, 1978;Pratt, 1982;Saunders, 1978;Scheffman, 1978;Tuccillo, 1980). However, irrespective of the absolute superiority of home ownership as an investment in the postwar period in Canada, in practice home ownership was the only investment mentioned as a means of accumulating capital or recovering from a business failure by those interviewed.…”

Housing Affordability and Spatial Price Variations in the United States

“…Sunshine and temperature were also statistically related to building starts and suburban growth rates, the latter two of which are also related to housing demand. This "demand-push/ price rise" explanation is perhaps the most widely accepted perspective, at least among academic researchers [23]. ond, these variables were included because of the continual media build-up of migration and expected housing price surges in high amenity areas such as the so-called "sunbelt," especially in those areas of the sunbelt on or near the seacoast.…”