Originally Posted by
GUWonder
I've been having some really interesting exposure to renovating/constructing residences in the region, and I must say this: beside the interest rate environment and labor cost environment, regulatory burden is a major reason the housing prices are as high as they are and yet the quantity and quality of the housing stock more questionable. And I include the mold/mildew problem as part of a quality of housing stock issue.
It can go too far the other way... We get brick-and-wood boxes with paper-thin party walls, terrible insulation, and no infrastructure (zero public transport, a few 'strip mall' style shops at best, reactive addition of school places, insufficient parking so cars end up blocking the pavements with nobody to enforce it) - and developers just leaving gardens, common ground, pavements and tarmac unfinished, with councils having little cash to pursue them to get it finished off. Half of the houses are bought as investments.
The location is commonly one that the local authorities don't want to be developed, but they don't have the money or resource to defend legal challenges from developers.
However, deep baths still tend to get included. And we have very restrictive electricity in bathroom regulations!