Real demand for housing is here in Portland and in San Francisco. It's not created by real estate speculation. Real people, by the thousands, come to these metr

Real demand for housing is here in Portland and in San Francisco. It's not created by real estate speculation. Real people, by the thousands, come to these metro areas, faster than the housing stock grows to accommodate them. Before asking ourselves if price surges are created by the smokes and mirrors of speculation, a second-degree hypothesis, we ought to look at the simpler hypothesis first: is there a real demand for housing? Yes, there is. Is the housing stock growing fast enough to satisfy that demand? No, it is not.