California's Homeownership Decline Calls for Massive Housing Build
California has the second lowest homeownership rate in the US after New York, and we've lost ground over the past 20 years. This is not healthy. We need to build a lot more housing and create the next generation of middle-class homeowners. https://t.co/Ti8z138Ekm
White House Report Calls for Faster, Less-Regulated Housing Build
The White House CEA just released their 2026 Economic Report, and there's an excellent section on housing. Cliff's Notes version: Make it a lot easier and quicker to build a lot more housing of all types. Very YIMBY message, and details...
LA Wildfire Rebuilding Trails Other California Disaster Recoveries
The record recovery that isn't. Rebuilding after last year's wildfires in Los Angeles lags behind other recent natural disasters in California https://t.co/N6OxdteMDr https://t.co/10oE7ljWcb
Vancouver's 17‑Story Mass Timber Passive House Advances Clean Skyscrapers
"A 17-storey mass timber-Passive House tower under construction in downtown Vancouver will help push forward clean, tall timber construction techniques, the company building [it] says" #passivhaus #passivehouse #masstimber #prefab https://t.co/zxvDlROpBD https://t.co/fVWpGeoI43
Cambridge Student Housing Construction Begins to Meet Passivhaus Standards
Owlstone Croft: "Morgan Sindall Construction has started construction of student housing at the University of Cambridge, which will be built to Passivhaus standards." #passivhaus #passivehouse https://t.co/qUiokSlgju https://t.co/6SFSNr2WoW
Milan's Bike Network Costs a Fraction of a US Highway Interchange
At a cost of $285 million, Milan is building 466 miles of a citywide, grade-separated bike network, representing just 35% of the cost of a single highway interchange in Chicago.
Apartment Development Remains Fragmented; No 8k+ Builder Since 2019
For the first time since 2019, no single apartment developer started 8k+ units last year, according to the newly released NMHC Top 25 developers list. Greystar still ranked No. 1 with 7.2k units, amounting to 1.9% of all U.S. apartment starts...
Affordable London Housing Embraces Arts & Crafts Aesthetics
"Textured brickwork, arch motifs and large mansard roofs nod to the Arts and Crafts style surroundings of Farmstead Road, an affordable housing development in London by local studio Metropolitan Workshop." #passivhaus #passivehouse https://t.co/XgA8QmCTpA https://t.co/twVWdeQXFH
Straw Passivhaus in NZ Proves Low‑Carbon, Recyclable Living
Straw built Passivhaus coming to Grand Designs NZ: "You can have a passive house, which is very low energy & low carbon - the owners have the view that the material should be ultimately recyclable. This build breaks stereotypes.” #passivhaus #lowcarbon https://t.co/aHdNY7cl28
5 Affordable Passivhaus Retrofit Tips From the Trust
"The Passivhaus Trust's top 5 tips for affordable Passivhaus retrofits" #passivhaus #passivehouse #enerPHit #retrofit https://t.co/YgBB8AhdAT https://t.co/d2y476l7jb
San Jose Cuts Fees, Mandates to Revive Development
He slashed fees and unfunded mandates in San Jose, two policy changes that were controversial among the left locally but that reflected common sense, evidence-based reforms to get the city building again. Is that an acceptable answer?
Beyond Zoning: Cost, Materials, Tastes Drive City Designs
I think regulatory explanations are slightly overstated here. Of course, zoning/building codes contribute to design. But it's also cost and availability of materials, consumer tastes, etc, as has always explained why cities build the same typologies at the same time.
Optimas S19 Revolutionizes Poland’s Large-Scale Paving
Optimas S19 Paving Machine Transforms Large-Scale Construction in Poland by @gzwkdp #Engineering #EmergingTech #Innovation #Technology https://t.co/aQs0dzJF5b
Construction Costs Surge After Energy Shock, Builders Confirm
Good read from @_willparker_ on construction cost increases happening post-energy shock. Homebuilders we surveyed in early April noted similar sentiment (several quotes below). https://t.co/QBhJxv5lrC https://t.co/9ICS9qHWaR
AI Data Centers Outspend Interstate Construction Weekly
The AI data center build-out is the largest privately-funded infrastructure program in American history. The Interstate Highway System took 35 years to build at an average of approximately $18.8 billion per year in 2026 dollars. The AI data center build-out is...
GDOT Builds Bike Lane Ten Times Faster than Atlanta
I can't get over how cool it is that GDOT is building a protected bike lane on 14th Street, and they're doing it about ten times the speed it took the City of Atlanta to build the Juniper Street bike...
East Coast Urban Corridor Deserves Japan‑Style High‑Speed Rail
It seems pretty reasonable to me that the dense urbanism that extends from Boston to Miami should be connected by high-speed rail, as in Japan. https://t.co/oPwSqixSot
Robot Revolutionizes Road Marking with Precision Speed
RoadPrintz #Robot Automates Road Marking with Precision and Speed by @roadprintz #Robotics #Engineering #Innovation #Technology https://t.co/hWODyLSEOH
Adopt California ADU Model, Create National Market
Illinois should align their ADU framework with California's highly successful ADU framework. We need a national common market for manufactured ADUs in particular to really drive costs down. This is theoretically something the federal government might coordinate, but, well...
Americans Trade Long Commutes for Larger New Homes
And this is why DR Horton is able to build and sell 100,000 homes per year Americans want a large new house … and they are willing to trade long commutes for them.
Automated Barriers Streamline Traffic Redirection Down Under
Automated Road Barrier Modules Help Redirect Traffic in Australia by @tweetciiiim #Innovation #EmergingTech #Technology #Tech https://t.co/2r7apRe3Rr
Japan Turns Earthquake Resilience Into Data-Driven System
Japan does not wait for disaster to teach the lesson twice. That is what stands out to me. It lives with constant seismic risk, yet keeps turning resilience into a system, not a slogan. Japan sits in one of the world’s most...
California's Costly Fees Stifle Projects, Drain Tax Revenue
More high-cost California cities need to be slashing fees and unfunded mandates. Slapping six-figures in costs on projects such that nothing pencils, thereb6 losing millions in possible tax revenue, is penny rich, pound dollar poor policy.
Chinese City Land Sales Plunge 46% Year‑on‑year
Yicai: "300 cities auctioned 64.72 million square meters of land in the three months ended March 31, a 24 percent drop from a year ago. By value, sales plunged 46 percent to CNY215.4 billion. By floor area, they shrank 26...
Inclusionary Zoning Halts Construction Without High Market Rents
This is kind of the problem though, right? (I) Even in the best of cases, inclusionary zoning locks in high market rents. The moment market rents aren't high enough to bear the cross subsidy, construction stops until they are...
China Railway Boosts Q1 Investment 5% to Spur Growth
Xinhua: "In the first three months of 2026, China State Railway completed 137.9 billion yuan in fixed-asset investment, a year-on-year increase of 5.1 percent. The company will implement the key railway construction tasks specified in the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030),...
Require Cost‑Benefit Review for All Building Code Changes
Every change to the building code should come with a rigorous cost-benefit analysis, and we should to this analysis of the entire existing code. (And then ban arbitrary local amendments that make the code more restrictive.)
Engineers Suspended for Absurd 90° Bridge to Dodge Metro
Seven engineers in the city of Bhopal were suspended and blacklisted by the government last year after the internet became aware of their new bridge design, featuring what most called a 90-degree turn. The engineers designed it this way to...
New Platform Designs Shine Amid Construction Chaos
Five Points MARTA Station is a mess of construction right now but I'm very impressed with the new designs for the train platforms. This will look great with the cool new train cars.
From Global Planning Leader to Six‑Figure Bench Costs
America was once a global leader in city planning: we planning out thousands of street grids and civic centers, building the world's largest transit and park networks, inventing new genres of architecture, etc. Now we can barely install a park...
Terabase Energy Automates PV Construction Using Robotics and AI
Terabase Energy advances automated PV construction with robotics, AI tools #energysky -- via pv magazine global: https://t.co/i2owLWOxVh https://t.co/sUxqfqBegM
Improve Cities, Boost Housing Support Across America
My thoughts on what America actually needs to do in order to make its cities nicer and increase support for housing construction: https://t.co/8adistZlJY
Under‑Excavator Bedding Feeder Cuts Pipe‑Crew Time
Bedding feeder mounted under the excavator = serious time savings. Loader feeds the hopper, trench gets consistent bedding without stopping. Not for every job, but for pipe crews it’s a game changer. https://t.co/W84iQ0vimD
Norfolk Southern Restores Old Fort Loops After Hurricane
🥳 Norfolk Southern has run a train on the Old Fort Loops for the first time since the route was devastated by Hurricane Helene in 2024, marking the completion of rebuilding and repair to this section of the...
Hawai‘i Campus Adds Solar Carports with Battery Storage
University of Hawai’i branch campus to install solar carports with battery system #energysky -- via Solar Power World: https://t.co/mP7B0rliLk
AB130 Exposes the Decline of CEQA NIMBYism
This piece on one of the first Sacramento projects to benefit from the AB 130 CEQA infill exemption ends up being a really interesting profile into the shadowy (dying) wold of CEQA NIMBYism, and the deluded people who engaged in...
Hiring Growth Drives 2026 Real Estate More Than Unemployment
Why hiring matters more than unemployment for the real estate market in 2026. My latest for HousingWire. https://t.co/uaChbKgjEm
Insights on Tampa Bay Rays Stadium Proposal Interview
Here's an interview I did on the Tampa Bay Rays stadium proposal from earlier today https://t.co/t7TFhX1OhI
Stadium Tax District Fails to Cover Debt, Never Self‑sustaining
The article teaser provides an incorrect description. As planned, the city set aside extra money to pay off the initial debt. The stadium and tax district are absolutely NOT producing sufficient revenue to cover the debt with a surplus. This...
Even Critics Admit Upzoned City Enables Affordable Homeownership
This is, somehow, meant to be an anti-Sherrill argument, but even when trying to pretend affordability would be bad they make the upzoned city look unfathomably cool. We could have this. You could afford to own a home and start...
Trump Team Releases Designs for Controversial 250‑Foot Arch
How much will it cost to remove? Trump officials unveil designs for president’s controversial 250-foot arch https://t.co/p1w7RCvH71
High Rent Targets Force Developers Toward Studios
Any new construction unit needs to be significantly higher Rent/SF than existing homes in the area, or else it won't get built at all The way developers keep Prices down is by building smaller units ... like Studio apartments And it's why...
HSR Benefits Mid‑cities, Not Just End‑to‑end Trips
One of the laziest anti-train arguments is to look at the entire length of a line and say "no one will take a train from [extreme end] to [extreme end]." That would be like looking at I-5 and assuming that its...
Rising Gas Prices Threaten Out‑skirt Home Sales
So many homebuilders ventured further out into ‘drive until you qualify’ submarkets this cycle as affordability got squeezed. This gas price chart is going to now weigh on those communities, adding incremental pressure to both new home sales and starts...
Federal Highway Spending Outpaces Gas Tax Revenue by $20B
Last year, the feds spent $20B more on highways than gas taxes/fees actually brought in. Only two states fully fund their roads with user fees, the rest are subsidized. Can’t wait to have the conversation about highway/road spending at some...
Spring Surge: Building Material Prices Jump Across the Board
Prices going higher for roofing, siding, paint, gypsum, insulation, fiberglass, foam, hardware, metal, and steel products. Great rundown of cost increase announcements rippling through housing this spring. https://t.co/liiQC0xAUu
Canadian Rents Plunge, Oversupply Threatens Landlords
Canadian Rents Have Gone Down 18 STRAIGHT MONTHS & More New Construction Rental Supply Is Coming Than Ever Before In History Yeah, Mom & Pop Landlords who bought units in the last 6 years knew things were bad But in some Canadian...
Rays Stadium Could Cost Taxpayers $2‑4 Billion
We're at a minimum of $2.1B in public costs for the entire Rays stadium project, and a maximum of who the hell knows, but numbers like $4B or even higher are certainly not out of the realm of possibility. https://t.co/BTf9Ny0pwk
Harare to Host Africa’s Largest Liberation Museum
The LARGEST & MOST BEAUTIFUL Museum in Africa is currently under construction in Harare, Zimbabwe… The Liberation City will have many other facilities: an amusement park, a Zipline, Cable Car, Wildlife, Shopping Mall, & a 5 Star Hotel… ED2030 for...
Builders Chase Confidence, Not Actual Demand
Builders Don’t Follow Demand — They Follow Confidence. Supply doesn’t follow demand. It follows confidence. By the time supply enters, demand is already fading. But the market doesn’t see it. Because perception is still rising. Narratives are strongest at the top. That’s when launches increase. That’s when land...