this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024
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Futurology
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If ever there was an industry that could do with some technological overhaul - its housing. 3D Printing threatens to do the job, and seems to have the right tools, but never takes off - will this be the one that does?
At $1,000 per module they offer solutions to homelessness in western countries.
The modern housing crisis isn't a consequence of construction labor shortages or even construction labor costs. The primary hindrance to affordable housing is proximate real estate available for development.
Unless you can find a way to print more soil or to automate the pipping and road infrastructure that connects units, these tools will mostly benefit developers in the position to speculate on real estate bought decades in advance of new municipal infrastructure.
Where do you put the $1000 unit once you've built it? On a $300k lot?
In many cities (thinking of Toledo OH) you can snag free lots.
They are zoned for single family houses only, which would cost $100k-200k to build, with a market value of maybe $50k
And nobody wants to change the zoning to allow 3d printed shanty towns.
You can also snag a lot of cheap vacant units.
Developers would love to print disposable housing that needs to be abandoned and rebuilt every 20 years or so. The trick is that they want to sell these things for a big markup. They don't want to flip a $1000 unit at cost.