They have much better trains / public transit to bring both workers and day tourists in and much denser towns with lots of old small living spaces.
I'm no expert but do live in a western mountain town and have an old climbing friend who just bought a closet to live in in the Alps.
Part of the issue here is towns have very limited sewage and water systems so its not like you can just build new apartments/duplexes/tiny houses/trailer parks on the outside of town ... you need a pretty big lot to put in a septic system and well and at that point you buy a lot you might as well build a 3+ bedroom McMansion to maximise returns.
Agreed - I live in rural New Hampshire and the constraint to growth is the cost of civil infrastructure that has to be built through granite.
With the book from the panic, people have bought lots all over thinking they could just build… it doesn’t work like that. The rock doesn’t always agree w your plans.
I'm no expert but do live in a western mountain town and have an old climbing friend who just bought a closet to live in in the Alps.
Part of the issue here is towns have very limited sewage and water systems so its not like you can just build new apartments/duplexes/tiny houses/trailer parks on the outside of town ... you need a pretty big lot to put in a septic system and well and at that point you buy a lot you might as well build a 3+ bedroom McMansion to maximise returns.