The Housing Crisis is not national in scope—it’s focused on particular areas with particular policies

According to the  U.S. Burea of Labor Statistics,  the rise in housing prices is limited to a handful of markets--California tops the list. Most U.S. housing markets are simply tracking inflation rates.

Reason Magazine reports:

“These numbers reflect a regional problem…It’s not a nationwide phenomenon. It’s driven by  land use regulations in the most expensive markets that make it nearly impossible to add enough housing supply to accommodate the number of people who would like to live there.

“Experts say cities should add one unit of new housing for every two new jobs that come to town. America’s boom cities are nowhere close to that.

“Many cities have established urban growth boundaries that prevent housing being built on the fringes of urban areas.

“Should you find a slice of land in San Francisco appropriately zoned for apartments, chances are you’ll spend years and potentially millions of dollars, getting permission to build on it.

“For each project that’s delayed, an unknown number of developers are deterred altogether.”

Reason Magazine, September 2019.