A recent legislation proposal would create a path for large-scale development all over California. The law would affect San Francisco the most, and would have an impact on the growing housing supply. San Francisco suffers from NIMBYism. Also a lengthy, local review process building developers. This new legislation can help.
The new laws would help with the rising cost of homes. This may not matter much in the future, however, Within a few years, the technology revolution will create a change in where people want to live. It could solve San Francisco’s real estate cost without help from the proposed legislation.
If you look back at the 1900’s, only 30 percent of Americans lived in cities. In 2010, that number grew to 81 percent. This is likely due to the jobs. In 1900, 40 percent of the workforce were farmers. Today, only 2 percent of the population are farmers. Since all of the jobs have moved to the city, people moved to the city. As more and more people moved to the city for work, more jobs were created to accommodate the need, such as cashiers and waitresses. Since people like to live where they work, they moved. The only problem with this is that there is only so much room in San Francisco for people to live.
Imagine residing in a beachfront property in San Francisco for half the money that it would cost to live in the city. This sounds like a scam, but one day in the future, it could be a possibility. Three technologies can change the way people view real estate and can make the beachfront property scenario a possibility. These include self-driving cars, virtual reality, and the Hyperloop.
People Will Begin to Leave Because Technology Will Make It Possible
Self-Driving Cars
Self-driving cars are not science-fiction, they are coming, quickly. Every car manufacturer has planned to have a self-driving car available by 2020. Google and Tesla have promised to deliver these cars even before then. Most people would much rather be carted around than driving themselves around.
Thanks to self-driving cars, parking spaces will be able to be eliminated, and the land would be free for development. Parking takes up about 25 percent of American cities. Although all of the space cannot be allotted for new development, if even a quarter of that space can be used, it can help increase the housing supply.
Also, traffic won’t be as much of an issue since self-driving cars will be more efficient. This will prevent traffic jams and accidents since there will be fewer cars on the road.
Half Moon Bay is a great place to live, but very few people want to live there because the commute time would be too much. If the car drove itself and you can read or watch television on the ride, it might be different. Anywhere within 40 miles of where you work would be a good place to live. This would reduce the pricing pressure of San Francisco and Silicon Valley since living far from work is possible.
The Hyperloop
One amazing technology that could change our lives is the Hyperloop. It is the vacuum tube that you use at the bank’s drive-thru. If a life size one were created, it would be able to send people to other places up to 700 miles per hour. If this idea works, you could go from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes. Many hurdles are keeping the Hyperloop from becoming a possibility, however. There is a company who has completed a proof of concept outside Las Vegas. They have a goal to start transporting people by 2021.
Virtual Reality
Finally, there is virtual reality. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion. They did this because they see the future of social interaction happening through virtual reality. Microsoft has already created demos that show people working in different places, but interacting as holograms. This would allow a person to live anywhere and work anywhere.
In 1995, 9 percent of workers telecommuted occasionally. In 2015, that number grew to 37 percent. With the technology we have now, telecommuting has some drawbacks. Virtual reality will change that and make it seem as though you are in the same room with your colleagues.
Rather than having a few areas left in the city to live as we do now, things will change thanks to technology. When people can live anywhere, the price of real estate will go down.