Whilst we all love luxury housing, we are ideally aiming to keep things affordable as our way to give back to the community and those in need, making profit on top is just the added bonus.

I specialize in Luxury Homes, Commercial properties, and investment properties.

For the last few years, it has made more sense to simply rent luxury because the cost to buy vs the rental rates didn't make sense.I'll make some separate posts regarding properties, everything from investing in favelas of Brazil to Penthouses and beach-front properties.

Then theres less affordable housing and only big developers who do luxury apartments. 

Not only are there fewer local investors there, but there are far fewer foreign buyers there than other European countries as well, with the exception of some places like Venice, Capri, Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, Lake Como, Chianti etc. which are luxury vacation home markets more than what we would consider rental markets. 

It seems luxury is the only thing that works now. 

Empty building that could be repurposed makes sense but only at the right price.A way the government can get involved is in the form of grants or tax breaks for developers who are repurposing old vacant office buildings in areas that need more residential units.This is happening a bit in Manhattan, but it has been so expensive to repurpose that the finished product ends up being luxury apartments/condos that only the wealthy can afford.If the local government wants more middle class housing they need to get involved and help the developers achieve that.

The general contractor I'm looking for should also know cost efficient ways to make the condo look beautiful/luxurious, but hard for renters to damage.

Everyone here is coming with new ideas to recreate new housing communities that are exciting to welcome luxury buyers. 

However, if you're building a luxury home for STR usage, then all of those things are necessary and will significantly increase your rental incomeI think a lot of the confusion comes in the fact that when you're not local to the area, it's hard to see where exactly the current high demand areas are.