Introduction 介绍
Housing is one of the one the major problem facing not only the United States but also most countries across the globe. Arguably, despite the population of people growing rapidly across the globe due to factors such as improved wellbeing, the number of houses that are build every year has grown at a significantly slower rate, leading to major deficit in housing in different cities around the globe (Matthews, Bramley & Hastings, 2015). The problem is further exacerbated by the rapid growth of the population of young people, whom despite preferring to live in urban centres have no sufficient finances to rent high-end houses that could be available on the market (Hite & Seitz, 2015). Therefore, the problem of housing continues to create a platform for emergence of different groupings with each proposing different ways of solving the problem. For instance, whereas some propose the need for up-zoning, others propose the need to implement rent-control policies. This report explores the different proposed solutions and opinions on addressing the problem of housing from an economic point of view.
住房问题不仅是美国面临的主要问题之一，也是全球大多数面临的主要问题之一。可以说，尽管由于福利改善等因素，全球人口增长迅速，但每年建造的房屋数量增长速度明显放缓，导致全球不同城市的住房严重短缺（Matthews、Bramley&Hastings，2015）。年轻人人口的快速增长进一步加剧了这一问题，尽管他们更喜欢居住在城市中心，但没有足够的资金租用市场上可以买到的高端住房（Hite&Seitz，2015）。因此，住房问题继续为不同群体的出现创造了一个平台，每个群体都提出了解决问题的不同方法。例如，一些人提出需要增加分区，而另一些人则提出需要实施租金管制政策。本报告探讨了从经济角度解决住房问题的不同建议解决方案和意见。
Taller buildings and cost of housing 更高的建筑物和住房成本
To begin with, the proponents of taller buildings argue that through reviewing housing policies to allow the development of taller building in some neighbourhoods will help ease housing problem and lower prices. Notably, the proponents of such types of building peg their argument that the price of housing is high in major cities around the globe because there are fewer houses on market as compared to what is actually required. Therefore, building taller buildings will help accommodate more people within particular neighbourhoods, thus solving the problem. This is echoed by Chandler, Tinoco and Chiland (2018) who notes that the proponents of taller building assume that dense housing helps enhance housing affordability. Importantly, from an economic perspective, the supply and demand of commodities play a critical role in influencing prices. According to Shone (2001), when there is a high supply of commodities on the market, prices are likely to decline, while a higher demand of a particular commodity is likely to influence its prices upwards. Therefore, the arguments of the proponents of tall buildings are based on the principles of the supply and demand, which influence price depend on whether the two are either rising or declining.
首先，高层建筑的支持者认为，通过审查住房政策，允许在某些街区开发高层建筑，将有助于缓解住房问题，降低价格。值得注意的是，这类建筑的支持者坚持他们的观点，即全球主要城市的房价很高，因为与实际需求相比，市场上的房屋较少。因此，建造更高的建筑物将有助于在特定街区容纳更多的人，从而解决问题。Chandler、Tinoco和Chiland（2018）对此表示赞同，他们指出，高层建筑的支持者认为密集型住房有助于提高住房的可承受性。重要的是，从经济角度来看，商品的供求在影响价格方面起着关键作用。根据Shone（2001）的说法，当市场上商品供应量很大时，价格可能会下降，而对某一特定商品的更高需求可能会影响其价格上涨。因此，高层建筑支持者的论据是基于供求原则，而供求原则对价格的影响取决于两者是上升还是下降。
On the other hand, the opponents of taller building emphasise the aspect that low-cost older housing stock will be replaced with expensive housing, leading to increase in the housing cost. The argument of these opponents is founded on the fact that the demand and supply relationship is not the only factor that influences pricing but also aspects such as cost of production, quality and as well as the value of a commodity (Rudani, 2010). In this case, the cost of production, the quality of the commodity, and its value, which mainly arises from its popularity, is likely to impact on the price that is set by suppliers. For example, in the case of taller houses, their popularity on the market is likely to lead an increase in their prices. Furthermore, the cost of building materials, which is relatively high at the moment, and the quality of these houses will also push their prices upwards as landlords seek to recover their investments.
另一方面，高层建筑的反对者强调，低成本的旧住房将被昂贵的住房所取代，从而导致住房成本上升。这些反对者的论点基于这样一个事实，即需求和供应关系不仅是影响定价的因素，而且也是影响生产成本、质量和商品价值等方面的因素（Rudani，2010）。在这种情况下，生产成本、商品质量及其价值（主要来源于其受欢迎程度）可能会影响供应商设定的价格。例如，对于较高的房屋，它们在市场上的受欢迎程度可能会导致价格上涨。此外，由于房东寻求收回投资，目前相对较高的建筑材料成本和这些房屋的质量也将推高房价。
Therefore, building taller buildings in a particular region is likely to lead to a decline in demand for single family dwellings and high priced units, and an increase in prices for low priced units and apartments. Note that the realisation among individuals that a particular region has low prices is likely to lead to influx of people to such areas, thus eventually increasing demand and pushing the prices of housing upwards. On the other hand, high priced units in such areas are likely to experience a decline in demand thus forcing their prices downwards. Furthermore, it is important to note that high-priced units draw their values on aspects such as privacy and being located in areas with low population density (Haarhoff, Beattie & Dupuis, 2016). Therefore, increasing the population of people within a particular area by developing housing units that houses a large number of people will lead to decline in demand of high priced units because of a decline in their perceived value, leading to a decline in their prices.
因此，在特定地区修建更高的建筑物可能会导致对单户住宅和高价公寓的需求下降，以及低价公寓和公寓的价格上涨。请注意，个人意识到某个地区的房价较低，可能会导致人口涌入这些地区，从而最终增加需求，推高房价。另一方面，这些地区的高价公寓可能会经历需求下降，从而迫使其价格下降。此外，值得注意的是，高价公寓在隐私和位于低人口密度地区等方面具有价值（Haarhoff、Beattie&Dupuis，2016）。因此，通过开发容纳大量人口的住房单元来增加特定区域内的人口，将导致高价单元需求下降，因为其感知价值下降，从而导致价格下降。