New apartments are inevitably going to be higher priced. Unless we're just going to deliberately build units with worse insulation, earthquake resistance, etc.

New apartments are inevitably going to be higher priced. Unless we're just going to deliberately build units with worse insulation, earthquake resistance, etc. all new construction of the same square footage is going to be higher value. Today's "luxury" apartments are tomorrow's affordable apartments. Today's dearth of affordable apartments is due to lack of construction in the past couple decades.