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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 10h

A lot of the credit goes to Santi Ruiz for being really well prepared and asking great questions … but this is probably the best market wide and historical conversation I’ve had on apartments. And how it affects “apartments for families”

open.spotify.com/episode/63C6...

Why We Don't Build Apartments for Families

open.spotify.com

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 14h

🤝

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16h

Appreciate you saying that ... and I'm glad you found it interesting/useful!

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 17h

No. There is not. It's a herding/mimetic effect

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 17h

The silly (but relevant) example it reminds me of is the Profit Maximization problems in Finance/Econ psets

You use the first derivatives to solve for the interior maximum ... but then you *always* have to check the corner solutions.

We are pointing to a corner solution that should be checked

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 17h

Obviously, there are factors of individual sub-markets. And developers will need to do their own due diligence

But this should, hopefully, serve as a reminder for analysts to check and see if these units make sense to build

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 17h

So that means there is money to be made in building MORE of what people want

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 17h

According to the survey, more people would *rather* have the unit on the Right, than the unit on the Left

But the issue (or opportunity) is that the unit on the left is 50X more common than that on the right

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 17h

In my opinion ... the MOST compelling and actionable part the 6,000 person floorplan survey we did was in these 2 charts

Americans *prefer* 1BR units that have an extra room rather than a walk-in closet & en-suite bath

That includes those who want kids, and those who don't

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

If a "Baby Maybe" apartment (a unit with a Den/Office/Nursery) can nudge a couple to feel comfortable to "pull the goalie," even if they don't HAVE the baby while living in that unit ... it will have succeeded as a family friendly apartment

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

An interview I gave to Statecraft (IFP) on *why* we don't build apartments for families and how we can start:

"Baby Maybe" apartments

For those who love The City, one of he biggest challenges is how to keep the young people who move IN to City when they have kids
www.statecraft.pub/p/why-we-don...

Why We Don't Build Apartments for Families

"Why is the fridge in a studio the same size as in the three-bedrooms?"

www.statecraft.pub

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

*new apartments

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

Then you're just not familiar with the basic layouts of US apartments. It is a feature in >95% of them

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

It's a small apartment. These layouts are for people who want to live in high demand dense areas.

Obviously a mcmansion doesn't have to deal with the issue you describe ... but that's a fundamentally cheaper land area.

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

Here's a gift link to the @inquirer.com article on how building Baby Maybe apartments can BOTH make financial sense for developers ... and how it can be good for the City

share.inquirer.com/OhE3rL

Developers should build more apartments for families, study argues

Developers should experiment with different kinds of layouts to attract families at various life stages, the authors argue.

share.inquirer.com

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

If a "Baby Maybe" apartment (a unit with a Den/Office/Nursery) can nudge a couple to feel comfortable to "pull the goalie" even if they don't HAVE the baby while living in that unit ... it will undoubtedly have succeeded as a family friendly apartment

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s a link to the full study, if you want to read all 40 pages and see the data for yourself

t.co/HTkXORETf1

https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-part-2

t.co

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

This means Developers don’t need to have altruistic desire to build “family friendly” units. They can simply build units that are under supplied in the market. To make more money

Hopefully it DOES lead to more people feeling comfortable to have a baby in an apartment. But that’s a happy byproduct

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

And what’s even more interesting … is that even people who don’t want kids STILL prefer the Den layout

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

But in order to pencil, changes need to be within building types that developers already build

That’s why in our 6000 person survey, we tested people’s preferences for things like a 750sf units with/without a Den

Turns out, people who want kids prefer the Den/Nursery floorplans

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

Important to acknowledge, as Lyman says, that the rise in new construction Studio & 1BRs apartments was driven by demand.

Young, ambitious people with higher incomes moving into the City. That's a good thing!

But now it makes sense to add different kinds of units as they think about having kids

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

The @inquirer.com covered the study Lyman Stone & I did ... showing that families put HIGHEST value on an *extra* room in apartments. Even a Den

“Family friendly” can be confusing. How many kids? What age?

We advance the argument that “Baby Maybe” apartments are good AND pencil

t.co/P4SZnB3csx

Developers should build more apartments for families, study argues

Developers should experiment with different kinds of layouts to attract families at various life stages, the authors argue.

www.inquirer.com

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

Yes that sounds right

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 2d

Fires in new homes are just so rare. I don’t want anything to add more “fuel to be fire” of the marshals so to speak

It’s not like if they required sprinklers in SFH that we’d get better fire truck rules

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 2d

I agree it’s incredibly biased against apartments … I just don’t think trying to raise standards on SFH is going to be successful or good even

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