It’s becoming progressively more clear that the quintessentially American tendency to construct sprawling, car-centric communities is coming to a screeching halt. Part of the blame lies with the ongoing crises with mortgage institutions, which has repercussions on the housing market nationwide.
However, it’s the unsustainable sprawl that’s the hardest hit. Here are the comments of Sandler O’Neill & Partners analyst Aaron Deer, as reported by the LA Times:
"At several properties, there were a significant number of fully built homes sitting vacant along with a large number of additional homes still under construction," Sandler O’Neill & Partners analyst Aaron Deer wrote today after touring developments in Corona and Ontario. "At one master plan community, the entire development appeared to be vacant — with the exception of crews working on new construction, it was a ghost town."
More from Deer’s note: "The homes all appeared to be empty, and there were no prospective buyers anywhere to be found. Surprisingly, the sales office was open … but the woman working there had questionable English fluency. When asked how many homes had been sold in the past month she simply responded, ‘Uh huh. Thank you. Yes!’ and handed us some additional literature on the property."
Median home prices dropped from $565,000 to $375,000 in the course of just one year in Corona and Ontario. Meanwhile, in dense, urban environments like western LA and San Francisco, the prices have remained stable. One key difference is the amount of driving required by the different locations. If improved health due to greater activity, fewer per capita greenhouse gas emissions, and less isolated communities weren’t enough to persuade people to leave their cul-de-sacs, current gas prices are making sprawling communities even less desirable and encouraging people to live where walking, biking, and mass transit are viable transportation solutions.
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I live in Japan. While I can’t argue with the statistics listed above, I do want to talk about my experience living here.
I have lived in Toyota city (THE Toyota city) for the past 2 years. Cars are everywhere… traffic jams are a way of life here. Driving some 20 miles can take over an hour — on a GOOD DAY! New car or old car, all cars contribute to traffic jams though.
Let’s look at the Japanese [i]shaken[/i] system though. When you get a new car, it has three years of registration included. After three years, it will have to be checked every two years. These checkups include lots of fees and insurances, and roughly cost the owner about $800-$1000 (less for [i]kei[/i] cars).
While the public transportation system in Japan IS good, it is expensive as all get-out! It is MUCH cheaper to drive a car than to take the train. Many places in Japan make it necessary to own a car. You simply can’t shop for groceries, go to the hospital, and get to work without one. While the country is more bike and train friendly than somewhere like America, it is by no means perfect.
I have a hard time believing the above statistics, as most people I know will get in their car to drive even half a mile away. Some people (including my wife’s family) will drive their car to somewhere that isn’t even an eighth of a mile away.
Maybe everyone is just buying used cars? I highly doubt that too, with all of the shiny new Lexus floating around Toyota city these days…
I guess it really depends on where you live in Japan. I was stationed in Yokosuka for three years. I never wanted a car there. There’s no parking, the gas, taxes, TOLLS, are all super expensive. I remember being told that we Americans are considered “expert drivers,” so we were almost automatically at fault in any wreck. Learning to drive takes a a lot more time and costs a lot more. A lot of our cities are so spread out cars are necessary, but their cities are compacted and built up. The best example I have is traveling from Yokosuka to the Narita airport near Tokyo. If you drive it costs approx. $80 US in tolls alone. The train was only about $25 US. Don’t get me wrong I love being back in the US and having a car, but I do sometimes miss not really needing one.