Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Crane City

Wherever you go around Molfetta, if you look up you will see a crane. This is particularly true on the outskirts of town, all the way around the town. Construction of new buildings was basically completely blocked in Molfetta for about 30 years. This led to major price hikes on the existing homes. As a result, many young couples just getting started in life had to leave Molfetta, moving to neighbouring towns like Giovinazzo, Terlizzi and Bisceglie. This in turn drove up the housing costs in those towns.

Luckily a couple of years ago the problem was resolved and the building of new apartment complexes commenced. Hundreds are being put up all around the perimeter of town and even in those few empty spaces in town.

This means that many families are moving back to Molfetta. Others who have been making due in tiny inadequate apartments just for the cnvenience of staying in town are finally able to move into more reasonably sized ones. Not that they are large or cheap...the average new apartment is 100 sq. meters and costs around €300,000.

p.s. Just a curiosity...the word for crane in Italian is "gru" which means both the construction tool and the bird, the same as in English.

6 comments:

Frankie / Nick said...

Very interesting commentary and a good news one at that. It isn't all that often that prices are reduced to accommodate the average persons anymore. Congrats.

crittoria said...

Very interesting post.

In answer to your question on my blog: Yes, he did get to keep the pig! We already had an empty pen at our farm and it's made a happy home for piggie. He's very cute, isn't he?

tr3nta said...

Great sky!!! :-0

Unknown said...

That surely applies to Lisbon and surroundings too! There is allways a crane...

Eki said...

This is a beautiful composition: beautiful clear sky, the cranes, and the billboards are placed beautifully in the frame.

Saretta said...

Thank you all! :-)