I am surprised no one mentions the elephant in the room - rent control. It makes it harder to discover the true rent (one has to pay a large lump sum to the pr

I am surprised no one mentions the elephant in the room - rent control. It makes it harder to discover the true rent (one has to pay a large lump sum to the previous tenant to get a rent-controlled apartment) and it discourages rental housing construction. Do you really think that these effects are best observable indirectly, as rent and construction?!