I've heard the same thing about supply and demand many times myself which seemed strange at first, but when I dug deeper I learned they aren't using the traditional definition for supply and demand, so what they were communicating was technically true, if meaningless. They weren't speaking the same language.

When I dug even deeper, I discovered that, pretty consistently, they don't understand the concepts anywhere, but their misconceptions sometimes incidentally fit reality, leaving it to appear as though they have an understanding sometimes. Housing is one of those places where those misconceptions don't usually fit and that is where the breakdown really becomes apparent, hence why they see housing as something unique.