If I had $1m+ to spend I think I'd rather build something as opposed to some crazy expensive "loft" that doesn't even come with dedicated parking (well - okay - it has dedicated storage for your bicycle). I agree with LandArchPoke - entry level condos need to happen downtown - this country is making a mistake only catering to the 1%ers and letting everyone else fight for the scraps. I disagree however that condos ever make sense.
A lot of it comes down to financing - I'm not super hopefully that it ever changes. We could look at Canada as a model of how our banks and financing agencies should deal with new condos.
A condo build is deemed more risky than a subdivision by banks so developers have to be very well capitalized to do them. The insurance and potential lawsuits to a developer (contractor, architect, etc.) in many states like Oklahoma is very large - you can get sued for years down the road for anything and everything if enough owners get together. People who want to buy a condo too have a really hard time buying them as opposed to a house if they're proposed, that's why most condo buildings cater to the 1% because they have excess cash they can put down for reservations normal people can't put aside for 12-24 months while it's under construction.
Until Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae wake up and create a condo financing program that makes it easier for people to buy them too you'll likely never see large scale condo developments that are affordable anywhere in the US. The Canadian financial system is set up to allow for financing these types of things and that's one of many reasons many of the smaller cities (not that much bigger than Tulsa or OKC) like Edmonton, Calgary, etc. are significantly more dense. A lot of young people tend to buy condos in the urban core as starter homes in many Canadian cities before moving out to bigger homes. Vancouver you can still find small condos for $400-600k in a city that most homes are $2 million +
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae don't get the deserved attention for driving so much of the suburbanization of our cities. Just minor changes to national and federal policy would do wonders for the housing crisis in the US. A starter home doesn't have to be a single-family house.
