A well-researched video that explains why some dense urban areas are quite expensive.
TL;DW: Despite a substantial historic housing stock, our most expensive cities have built very little housing in recent years, leading to very low vacancy rates and high prices. Ramping up housing construction will be a necessary part of solving the affordability crisis.
First mover advantage works against new housing too.
Like, you as a small retail consumer in your twenties, move to a place that you really can’t afford. You find a way to buy a condo/house/apartment and tie up 90% of your net worth and expenses to that new place. You scrap by on other expenses like transportation and food and clothing, but you find a way to make it work.
Because of supply and demand and no new places being built, the price of your place increases 3x in the next decade even though you didn’t do anything to improve it.
Your net worth increased almost that much (depending on how much you paid down towards principal) and now you can leverage that “home valuation” to borrow against and buy more things. Maybe even use it for a down payment on another condo. But you are going to do it because you are in your 30’s now and tired of living the simple life of a pauper. You need things. You need cash flow. You DESERVE it.
Now you, a small retail consumer, are aligned with big real estate because you don’t want new housing to come in and drive down the net worth that you borrowed against to live a better life. So you would be more susceptible to voting against housing density projects, and you would be outspoken about keeping the “charm” and “character” of your quaint little neighborhood.
Rinse and repeat for 75 years and this is the result.