> More available housing would also create more demand, no? By that logic, I could build a massive apartment tower in the middle of nowhere and people would fl

> More available housing would also create more demand, no? By that logic, I could build a massive apartment tower in the middle of nowhere and people would flock to live there. China tried that - it didn't work. https://www.businessinsider.com/these-chinese-cities-are-ghost-towns-2017-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/these-chinese-cities-are-gho... Housing is a market just like anything else. In any market, if the price gets too high, competitors jump in to create more supply to meet the demand. If apples were $100 a piece, everyone would grow apple trees in their backyard and make a fortune until the prices came back down to a reasonable level. So why aren't developers pumping out cheap apartment buildings left and right? Why aren't they buying empty parcels of land and putting up massive towers? Because they can't. Because local zoning laws won't allow them to.