Hey, if there's something I am confused about the US is that areas that are supposedly more "tolerant" generally have higher property values than places that are full of "normal" people.

As I'm trying to look for my own place to live, I'd like to live in an enclave with "weirdos" and other people that don't fit in. Blue states are at least slightly more friendly to non-conformists, and get a lot of hate from the US at large for being okay with non-model-citizens, yet housing in blue states is by far more expensive than my home state that is about as red as Mr. Krabs.

I'll be answering my own question a bit by saying that I noticed that there is a lot of NIMBY activity here, but then suburbs in red states have HOAs.

What's going on? Explain to this humble babby brain.

    • CheGueBeara [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      To add to this, cities in red states tend to be much less dense, often just the same density as a town, just in a larger contiguous area. Example: Houston. Big city. Urban. Sprawl.

      As property values are driven by natural monopolies on proximity to the other properties they interact with (in addition to financialization), sprawly areas can maintain lower prices. Take the people in a high-rise in Manhattan and spread them out in single-family homes: now they're all screwed out of the possibility of walking to their jobs, amenities, or using any coherent transit, so there's literally less value in location and they all have to drive cars to do anything, each getting about the same shitty experience.