All of the above. There are tons of houses available all over the country [except within a 2 hour driving commute of the few major financial hub cities] for pr

All of the above. There are tons of houses available all over the country [except within a 2 hour driving commute of the few major financial hub cities] for prices that the median household income would readily qualify. There's tons of new house construction going on, primarily in areas that are just barely outside of easy affordability (places like all of Texas that isn't Austin, for example). What there is not is much house construction in the super top most desired cities, in commute-range of the big financial and tech hubs. The combination of high demand and anti-housing policy have made housing in those locations utterly unobtainable. It's not even really that all the property is going to big investors -- most of the big investors prefer markets like Texas where the ratio of rents to prices is more workable. Much better to pay $500,000 per unit and rent out for $2,400/month than to pay $2,000,000 per unit and rent out for $5,500/month.