(Invest) U.S. Price of Construction USD/SF

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Subject Author Date (Invest) U.S. Price of Construction USD/SF Pseudonyme 05-21-2008  Re: (Invest) U.S. Price of Construction USD/SF Default User 05-21-2008  Re: (Invest) U.S. Price of Construction USD/SF Douglas Johnson 05-21-2008
Posted by Pseudonyme on May 21, 2008, 5:21 am There is a problem regarding the Price of construction in USD per Square Foot. In Italy, the Price of construction is USD 350/SF (or EUR 2.300/Square Meter). Some persons in the group are declaring that the Price of construction is +/- USD 150/SF in many US counties. There is an important consideration : Houses are not Commodities. Many constructions in the U.S. are limited-time life constructions (eg 40 years). Houses paid USD 150/SF like that one : http://www.miamiluxurywaterfront.com/Listing/ViewListingPhotos.aspx?ListingID=1395250&ShowCompact=False tend to have a EUR 0 on the long run. BUT, buildings paid USD 350/SF built in old traditional fashion like that one : http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Brownstone_House.html/cid_cr1023_b.html tend to have an growing value on the long run. I reject a USD 150/SF as a standard price for a traditional construction cost. Many thanks for your comments and replies. cougloff misc.invest.financial-plan http://groups.google.fr/group/misc.invest.financial-plan/post?hl=fr -------------------------------------- Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the Newsgroup. Posted by Default User on May 21, 2008, 12:45 pm Pseudonyme wrote: > BUT, buildings paid USD 350/SF built in old traditional fashion . . . > tend to have an growing value on the long run. > I reject a USD 150/SF as a standard price for a traditional > construction cost. You can reject it all you want, but there are realities. Here in St. Louis, MO, the median home price is $169,900. No one is going to contract a new 2000 SF house that would cost $700K to build. It wouldn't make any sense. Here is a St. Louis area builder's project: <http://www.taylormorley.com/communities/Models.aspx> 2000 SF houses there have a base price of about $240K. And that is with land. Brian -- If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up. -- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com) -------------------------------------- Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the Newsgroup. Posted by Douglas Johnson on May 21, 2008, 2:26 pm >Many constructions in the U.S. are limited-time life constructions (eg >40 years). Houses paid USD 150/SF like that one : >http://www.miamiluxurywaterfront.com/Listing/ViewListingPhotos.aspx?ListingID=1395250&ShowCompact=False > >tend to have a EUR 0 on the long run. Just looking at it, this house is about 40 years old, it looks like it's going strong. > >BUT, buildings paid USD 350/SF built in old traditional fashion like >that one : >http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Brownstone_House.html/cid_cr1023_b.html > >tend to have an growing value on the long run. A lot of Europeans like to sneer at US residential construction techniques. That's fine. Have fun. The fact of the matter is that wood construction is far cheaper and, if you keep the structure dry (intact roof, paint on exposed wood), can last indefinitely. In the US, the life of a house tends to be limited by it's economic life, not it's physical structure. In many US neighborhoods (including mine, unfortunately), they are tearing down perfectly good houses to build far larger houses (Mc Mansions) because that is what people are buying. If want to spend $350/sq. ft. for a house it will be a very long time before you recover your investment. Solid masonry construction is just not worth that much to the US market. -- Doug -------------------------------------- Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the Newsgroup. Similar Threads Posted (L.T. Invest) U.S. Offices Price USD/SF May 21, 2008, 1:39 pm How do they determine the price and its changes? 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