>>An asset isn't necessarily an investment. E.g. cars, merchandise, foodstuff etc. People need somewhere to live, so they'll keep building houses and people wil

>>An asset isn't necessarily an investment. E.g. cars, merchandise, foodstuff etc. People need somewhere to live, so they'll keep building houses and people will keep buying them and living in them, even if the "smart money" is chasing higher returns. Yes, people will still build houses, but you eliminate a vast number of more optimal arrangements by taking profit-motivated housing development out of the picture, and that results in less abundance of housing. Efficiency returns from specialization/division-of-labor, that is enabled by trade, is as close to an economic law as there is. And separating consumption of and investment into housing is a form specialization/division-of-labor. Many cities that have penalized or restricted profit motivated housing development have seen very serious negative repercussions for housing affordability. The assumption that long-held economic principles do not apply in a particular industry or sector is a very common one and almost always wrong.