Anyways, as what I meant about building more houses...
You can see elsewhere in this thread that people disagree on whether or not the core issue is that we have a shortage of houses. Some people are holding the assumption that, building more houses will increase the inventory for sale, and therefore help prices. Good old supply/demand. That's a perfectly rational assumption, and I don't necessarily disagree, but like you note, new construction is costly...
Additionally, as data given above (and elsewhere) indicates, housing per capita in 2022 is similar or better than in 2011 for many markets, but as we know, prices (even adjusting for inflation) are higher than 2011. From the theory of supply/demand, this suggests some degree of hoarding is happening, but as to how that is happening is not certain, as people could simply be living with fewer people than the past, or people could be living more or less the same amount people and investors are more of the ones who are buying up new construction. If the latter, then that new built construction might not really be for sale if you get what mean, as investors may simply rent it out or use it as a seasonal. Hence why I said "building more supply won't help if it is never for sale".
Now of course everything is for sale, just a matter of price, but who does cheap credit / inflation help more, people with assets or people without assets? That's right investors. And, given vacancies are higher than inventory for sale, I just have a hard time finding support for the idea that the core issue is that there is insufficient houses and we need to build more. The only reasoning for it seems to be the idea that more supply = lower prices (an idea which falls apart if it is simply hoarded). But of course, that's not to say, that many markets likely do need more supply, just that it doesn't seem to be the fundamental issue.
