Builders will build the housing stock that is expected to sell and maximize their profit. As long as there is a never ending stream of professionals with six fi

Builders will build the housing stock that is expected to sell and maximize their profit. As long as there is a never ending stream of professionals with six figure salaries moving to an area (such as people moving to Seattle for tech jobs) then builders will continue to target that demographic. If that cools down they will build cheaper housing if it makes sense (based on the price of the land, building costs, and zoning requirements that will restrict how many units they can get per lot they buy). If you want builders to build affordable housing at the same time then a) you need to have the zoning laws allow it to happen, and b) force them to do it as a condition of allowing them to build the luxury housing. But as long as demand at the high end is unmet the people with money will outbid everyone else and drive up the price of "affordable" housing if that's the only thing they can find. Nobody wants to pay $2,000 for a shitty apartment. But the price of shifty apartments will well rise north of $2,000 if that's the only thing you can find walking distance to Amazon. I think there is so much pent up demand for housing close to work that you can double housing stock and still not make a dent in prices, so it's easy to conclude that simply building more does not lower costs. I think we need to build a LOT more if we are ever going to have truly affordable housing near city centers.