Essay topic: The council of Maple County, concerned about the county's becoming overdeveloped, is debating a proposed measure that would prevent the development of existing farmland in the county. But the council is also concerned that such a restriction, by limiting the supply of new housing, could lead to significant increases in the price of housing in the county. Proponents of the measure note that Chestnut County established a similar measure ten years ago, and its housing prices have increased only modestly since. However, opponents of the measure note that Pine County adopted restrictions on the development of new residential housing fifteen years ago, and its housing prices have since more than doubled. The council currently predicts that the proposed measure, if passed, will result in a significant increase in housing prices in Maple County.

My response:
The Chestnut county may or may not see a rise in housing prices depending on various factors. Opponent of limiting development have some serious concerns about the price because one county saw an increase in housing prices when development was limited. However proponents believe it’s a good idea because another county saw that housing prices did not increase in this situation. There are many factors that affects housing prices, and they all need to be studied fot the policy makers to understand whether the prices are likely to increase or stay the same.

One question that needs to be looked at is how demanding chestnut county is amongst house buyers. If the county is very demanding, prices will go up fast and shortly after housing is limited, because more people would want to continue buying houses there, and sellers would demand more money to make up for the fewer number of housing available. In order to look at how attractive the housing market in the area is, surveys can be given out to those who live their and ask them to rate their neighborhood and their likelihood of wanting to buy a house there again if given a choice. This would provide the relevant information about customer demand.

Another factor that can be studied is how industrious the area is. This has an enormous impact in the housing market and other markets as well. A busy county where there are metropolitan areas, supermarkets, malls for people, is likely to attract more and more people who seek to live in the county for job opportunities and other amenities available. Therefore an industrious area is likely to cause a price surge when housing is limited. A way to measure the county’s industriousness is by conducting a study on the job opportunities and recreational opportunities available such as parks, malls, restaurants. If this turns out to higher than neighboring countries, housing prices are likely to become exorbitant.

A third factor that could likely affect housing prices is the size of the area of mapple county. If the county happens to be a large one, then housing prices would soar compared to if the county is a smaller one. The reason for this is, the size of the county affects whether people can drive to work in Maple county from outside this county even when they don’t live there. For a smaller county, it is possible to drive to this county during the day time , finish work and return home outside of the county since the driving distance would be less. More people would be willing to commute and give up their housing if prices increase, this would moderate the housing prices as more and more people move out of the county and commute to work instead of having a permanent home in the county. So studies can be done to figure out the driving distance from metropolitan areas to outer counties to make an estimate on whether people are likely to live outside.

And finally, the housing prices of the countries that are neighboring Maple county can also affect housing inside the county. This is because if the surrounding counties are higher priced compared to Maple county, then chances are pricing in the county would also drastically increase once development of housing is limited. People would not want to move to higher priced homes in neighboring counties. This would in turn cause the housing prices in Maple county to rise even more as the demand would be high.

A close analysis on all these factors and additional factors would give the council a more accurate idea on whether the housing market is lilley to become more expensive.