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More to the point, look at what people choose to live in. Good modernist and brutalist homes sell quickly and at a significant premium over prevailing market rates.

Modernism got a bad name in many Western countries, because it was used as an architectural and philosophical justification for cheap and shoddy system-built housing to fill the post-war housing gap. That doesn't make rectilinear forms and bare concrete inherently bad; we don't blame vernacular architecture for characterless mock-Tudor estate houses and vulgar McMansions, we blame bad architects, profit-hungry developers and philistine houses.

https://www.themodernhouse.com/

https://vimeo.com/93963469




> Good modernist and brutalist homes sell quickly and at a significant premium over prevailing market rates.

I admit I wouldn't be asking if it agreed with my biases, but how do we know this? Seems hard to control for all the other variables.


There are definitely some confounding factors other than architecture to account for. At least in Boston, new construction isn't replicating the century-old triple decker (of course, truly doing that would take a century of wear and tear). So I have to wonder how much of that price premium comes from having brand new stainless steel appliances and on-site gyms instead of creaky floors and questionable wiring. And then it seems to me, just wandering around town, the "modern" new construction is priced well above market price (lots of units sit vacant for a long time, with many eventually adding deal-sweetening offers like a month or two of free rent).


> Good modernist and brutalist homes sell quickly and at a significant premium over prevailing market rates.

Is that because they are good, or because they serve to signal class status?


Modern homes are very expensive to build, so it isn't surprising that they fetch a premium on the market.




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