Christopher Mims | The Wall Street Journal
The world’s housing crisis has many causes, but there is a stubbornly persistent one that we should have been able to solve by now: Productivity.
As prices of components and materials for pretty much every other physical object—cars, cellphones, clothing, etc.—have dropped precipitously, it still costs too much to build a building. Over the past 60 years, productivity in manufacturing has increased eightfold while remaining basically flat in construction, says Jan Mischke, a senior fellow at McKinsey Global Institute who specializes in infrastructure and housing.
Gadgets like iPhones, every one the same, benefit from economies of scale, but that’s harder to achieve with buildings, which must fit the sites they are constructed on.
As usual, technologists think they have a solution. They are reviving surprisingly old ideas in construction, including prefabrication and modular building. But don’t think “trailer park.” This time, they’re applying all the logistics and IT knowledge gained from building the global supply chains that deliver mobile devices, and all the automation pioneered by the automobile and other manufacturing industries. Yes, robots may be replacing more workers, but at least this should create more affordable housing.
