06-01-2026, 07:29 PM
(06-01-2026, 07:14 PM)ArMaP Wrote: Are houses so cheap to build in the US compared to the price of the land they are on?
And what about apartments? The cost of the land is divided by all homes in the building, so it's already very low, and it doesn't lower that much the price of a home (at least in Portugal)
PS: I don't know how things are in the US, but in Portugal, when you make a loan, you start by paying the interest, only after the first X years do you start paying your loan.
=THE U.S. LAND AND MATURATION FACTOR=
You are asking the exact right technical questions. The math changes significantly depending on geography and construction style.
To answer your first question: Yes, in the United States, a $350,000 to $200,000 drop is entirely realistic for a new single-family starter home.
In the U.S., the "cost of land" isn't just the raw dirt. It includes the cost of horizontal development. This means clearing the land, putting in roads, running sewage lines, connecting the electrical grid, and paying massive municipal permitting and impact fees.
The National Association of Home Builders consistently finds that land and horizontal infrastructure account for roughly 35% to 45% of the final sale price of a new home. By having the Federal land transfer cover these costs through the local Community Land Trust, we clip that entire premium off the top.
=THE MULTI-FAMILY APARTMENT EQUATION=
Your point about apartments is 100% correct for high-rise buildings. If you build a 20-story concrete tower, the land cost per apartment is heavily diluted. Wiping out the land cost in that scenario doesn't move the needle very much on the final price.
But the U.S. housing crisis is uniquely driven by a shortage of what we call "Missing Middle" housing. We are talking about duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, and low-rise garden apartments (2 to 3 stories).
In these lower-density builds, land and local development fees still represent a massive chunk of the total cost per unit.
Furthermore, the Community Land Trust model keeps apartments cheap forever. In standard real estate, even if the building gets older, the land beneath it becomes wildly expensive over decades due to speculation.
The trust locks the land value at zero permanently, preventing future real estate bubbles from pricing out the next generation of renters or buyers.
=EXPOSING THE FRONT-LOADED INTEREST TRAP =
What you described in Portugal is exactly how it works in the United States as well. It is called an amortization schedule, and it is designed to protect the banks.
When an American takes out a standard 30-year mortgage, the payments are heavily front-loaded with interest. For the first 7 to 10 years, almost every dollar you pay goes directly to the bank's profit. You barely reduce the actual balance of the loan.
If you have to move or sell after 7 years, you discover you still owe almost the exact same amount you borrowed. You built zero equity.
=HOW OUR BLUEPRINT DEFEATS THE TRAP=
This interest trap is exactly why the 10-year Lease-to-Own phase in Operation Domestic Bedrock is so important.
During those first 10 years, you do not have a bank mortgage. You are not paying front-loaded interest to Wall Street. Instead, 30% of your monthly payment goes into a locked, government-backed escrow account. This is 100% pure principal savings.
By the time you transition to a traditional mortgage at year 10, you aren't borrowing the full price of the home. You are bringing a massive, pre-funded 10-year down payment to the table.
Because your starting loan balance is now incredibly small, you completely bypass the decade of predatory, front-loaded interest that breaks the backs of regular buyers.
You start destroying the principal loan balance on day one.
