The amount to housing you can fit in a given metro absent zoning is basically unlimited. Manhattan has a population density of 75,000 people/square mile, and co

The amount to housing you can fit in a given metro absent zoning is basically unlimited. Manhattan has a population density of 75,000 people/square mile, and could be much higher without “air rights” limiting construction or the abnormally high percentage of commercial real estate. Many of the cities that are supposedly out of land have population densities an order of magnitude lower. Developers today build low density single family homes often due to zoning. If the law says you can build 3000 sqft on a given lot, the most profitable thing to build is probably single family. But if they were allowed 30,000 sqft or 300,000 sqft then you’re almost surely going to get multi family instead. At that point high end and mid range condos will likely both be profitable, but developer returns would be better for the former (if they can find buyers). So as high end buyers become more scarce, more developers will transition to mid range