"Nothing great was ever built without a speculative bubble." -- Fred Wilson The way this normally works out is that the price goes up; the high price attracts

"Nothing great was ever built without a speculative bubble." -- Fred Wilson The way this normally works out is that the price goes up; the high price attracts many independent firms into the market; these firms all go gangbusters trying to supply the market to cash in on the money in the sector; they solve the supply problem; the market ends up being oversupplied as all the new firms keep building; prices crash; lots of these firms declare bankruptcy; and then their resources are redeployed in the next speculative bubble. If you're talking about "the private housing sector" or "the builders" as a monolithic entity, you've already lost. There should be individual builders who all respond to price incentives and build what the market demands, not a cartel of builders who have the ability to dictate local policy & prices.