Software to tackle the US housing crisis

A platform is helping developers pinpoint areas with the best opportunities to build infill housing developments

Spotted: Like many other countries, there is a serious shortage of housing in the US due to the growing numbers of people setting up their own households. According to CNN, once multi-family homes are taken into account, the US is short of around 2.3 million homes. At the same time, there is a supply and demand mismatch in many urban centres as builders find it easier to build homes away from city centres, where demand is highest.

Working to fix this is SaaS company Cedar. The company’s platform uses generative algorithms, along with public and privately available data, to generate a broad array of building designs and predict the development yield on parcels of land. The outcome is that builders can know very quickly exactly what to build where in order to maximise income and minimise time to delivery.

Cedar’s focus is on non-institutional, ‘missing middle’ scale projects, which the company argues are essential to creating a more “economically and environmentally sustainable density” in cities. The platform helps developers pinpoint opportunities for builders and developers in places where housing density can be most easily increased.

The company recently announced a $3 million (around €2.7 million) seed funding round, led by Caffeinated Capital, with participation from Tishman Speyer Ventures, and others. Global venture capital firm Antler was also an early (pre-seed) investor.

Sustainable housing is the focus of a wide number of recent innovations spotted by Springwise. These include bio-based, recyclable, 3D-printed homes and houses made from cross-laminated timber.

Written By: Lisa Magloff