You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
Whilst traveling through a housing market well-removed from Backboro, I was struck by the prices developers were getting for moderately sized semi-detached (read: half a duplex) houses on tiny lots. Mrs. R. even commented that they better need little or no maintenance, as there wasn't enough space between two adjacent (as opposed to adjoining) units to raise a decent ladder.
Perhaps even more interesting was the fact that directly across the road from (at least some of) these domiciles was a cornfield. Probably a cornfield already zoned and subdivided for development, but (at least for now) a cornfield, none the less. Here was a fairly obvious example of managed housing density -- fairly high (by suburban standards) in the residential areas, extremely low in the (even if temporarily) non-residential areas. The stage was set for efficient delivery of services where they were needed, and virtually no delivery at all elsewhere.
Oh, and those prices -- about twice what a 2000-foot (plus) raised ranch on a two-acre lot would cost in a Backboro bedroom community. Whatever municipalities allow developers to build, an expanding population will pay for. And pay a high enough price to attain the level of status/exclusivity/cachet they aspire to.
