[wernercd]

Inflation makes everything more expensive (light bulbs, nails, electricity). Regulations to make stuff "safer" also makes stuff more expensive. Places like CA have had a housing shortage for decades - they are short on houses built vs needed by tens of thousands a year for decades.

Add to that "investment" in rentals and the like.

it all adds up. I assume it's going to get worse.

[bombcar]

An "investment" in rentals doesn't take supply away, even converting from a rental to an owner-occupied doesn't.

What you need is more supply, and without that prices will continue to go wild because the number of people who want to live in the area outstrips the supply of spaces.

In the past, you'd have new cities pop up and take some of the pressure off, but that's slowed down (though places like Austin have gone wild).

[wernercd]

It doesn't take supply away... but it does add overhead and middle men - which increases costs. Those investors need returns on their investments - whether you agree with capitalism or not.

"more supply" which is why I included places like CA that have had DECADES of shortages because of regulation, corruption, NIMBY, etc.

When you add the need for "more supply" to the need for investors to recoup costs, increased costs to build (IE: More safety features, solar requirements, etc), increased interest rates, etc?

It's easy to say supply and it's easy to say "towns used to pop up"... it's harder to admit that there's only so much space and those easy to pop-up areas are becoming fewer because there's fewer places to put up "towns" out of nowhere.