Hacker News with Generative AI: Real Estate

The chaotic brilliance of the UK's biggest self-build town (theguardian.com)
It is a place where a Disney-ish castle, complete with turrets, sits near a scaly ‘pangolin’ house. But is Graven Hill now straying from the DIY vision that made its anarchic jumble of styles so mesmerising?
Amid tariff turmoil, these warehouses are in big demand in L.A (latimes.com)
As steep tariffs on imports throw Los Angeles-area ports into turmoil and chill industrial property leasing, one rare type of building is suddenly in hot demand — bonded warehouses where goods can be stored without paying tariffs until they are removed.
NYC home prices rise 10% in early 2025 (qns.com)
The median sale price across New York City rose 10% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2025, from around $698,000 last year to $768,000 this year, according to a report by the real estate database site PropertyShark.
The suburban office park that launched Silicon Valley (thehustle.co)
Stanford built one of the first office parks in the country. Tech pioneers swooped in.
Home sales drop to their slowest pace since 2009 (cnbc.com)
Manhattan penthouse hits the market for $110M (6sqft.com)
The penthouse at the very top of supertall skyscraper 111 West 57th Street has hit the market for $110 million.
Foxconn's India iPhone factory triggers real estate boom (restofworld.org)
Foxconn’s arrival is quickly changing a rural town in southern India into a real estate hot spot.
I Live 400 Yards From Mark Zuckerberg’s Massive Data Center [video] (youtube.com)
Home galleries are hiding in plain sight across Canada (cbc.ca)
She throws art shows in her apartment. He does the same in a chicken coop. Upstart curators are creating ad-hoc exhibition space wherever they can, and as the cost of living climbs, the number of residential galleries may continue to grow.
China could crush the U.S. housing market (cnbc.com)
RealPage sues California city officials over rental algorithm ban (apnews.com)
Real estate software company RealPage filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Berkeley, California — the latest city to try to block landlords from using algorithms when deciding rents.
Big VC Tech Money Has Greatly Misunderstood Real Estate (medium.com)
Let’s cut through the mythology: Silicon Valley’s or Big Tech’s decade-long attempt to disrupt real estate represents one of the most fascinating case studies in digital transformation failure of our time. After pouring north of $30 billion into “revolutionizing” how the world buys and sells homes, the tech industry has accomplished remarkably little in fundamentally changing how transactions actually happen.
Doge Is Trying to Gift Itself a $500M Building (wired.com)
The DOGE-affiliated acting president of the United States Institute of Peace, a Congressionally funded, independent think tank, has moved to transfer the agency’s $500 million headquarters building to the General Services Administration free of charge, according to court documents revealed in a recently filed lawsuit.
Homeownership is 'an investment,' lawmaker says. Fewer adults are benefitting (cnbc.com)
Trump says U.S. will 'get Greenland,' military force not ruled out (usatoday.com)
President Donald Trump refused on Saturday to take military force off the table in his quest to acquire Greenland, saying he had an obligation to pursue ownership of the Danish territory that has rebuffed his advances.
A Startup Linked to Peter Thiel Wants to Build "Next Great City" in Greenland (insidehook.com)
Friars to barricade in historic Florence monastery destined for luxury sale (cnn.com)
Realtor.com Reports Active Inventory Up 28.5% YoY (calculatedriskblog.com)
Realtor.com Reports Active Inventory Up 28.5% YoY
Home Sellers and Buyers Accuse Realtors of Blocking Lower Fees (nytimes.com)
A year after a landmark settlement called for a disruption in how real estate agents are paid, people say they still feel forced to pay them excessive commissions.
Sensitive Complex Housing CIA Facility Was on GSA's List of Properties for Sale (wired.com)
A now-deleted list containing hundreds of US government properties that the General Services Administration (GSA) plans to sell includes most of a sprawling, highly sensitive federal complex in Springfield, Virginia, that also houses a secretive Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) facility, WIRED has learned.
Supply constraints do not explain house price, quantity growth across US cities (nber.org)
The standard view of housing markets holds that the flexibility of local housing supply–shaped by factors like geography and regulation–strongly affects the response of house prices, house quantities and population to rising housing demand.
'They turned our home into a cemetery': high price of El Salvador's Bitcoin City (theguardian.com)
Mangroves are being destroyed and residents displaced to make way for an airport to serve president Nayib Bukele’s vision of a tax-free economic hub
Show HN: We made a photo search engine for homes for sale (ycombinator.com)
We're a small team of 3 engineers, and wanted to make a better way to look for for properties online.
Occupry your next lease to negotiate a better deal (occupry.com)
Upload your lease and our specialized AI agents will review it clause-by-clause, researching local jurisdiction laws and best practices to help you negotiate better terms.
Why rents are still rising too fast (economist.com)
Across advanced economies, the rental market is undergoing a profound change.
US may be staring at a housing crisis, thanks to Elon Musk and DOGE (indiatimes.com)
Public Housing in Hong Kong (teoalida.com)
Gone are the days when a 'good job' gets you a house – and now we have the data (theguardian.com)
A decade ago, the then treasurer, Joe Hockey, told Australians that if they wanted to buy a house, the first thing they should do is “get a good job that pays good money”. But new research from the Australia Institute shows that even a good job is no longer enough to afford to buy a home.
Several states seek end to property taxes (foxbusiness.com)
As Tax Day nears, fiscally conservative leaders in several states are pushing to abolish property taxes, with one Pennsylvania lawmaker arguing that homeowners shouldn’t have to "pay rent" to the government.
The Church FAQ (scalzi.com)
A few years ago, we bought a church building. Since then, every time I mention it online and/or on social media, someone always responds, “wait, you bought a church, what” and then asks some standard questions. At this point it makes good sense to offer up a Church FAQ to answer some of those most common questions. Let’s begin!