People talk about induced demand for housing often enough. It's not as big obstacle as induced demand for car traffic in large metropolitan areas. It simply mea

People talk about induced demand for housing often enough. It's not as big obstacle as induced demand for car traffic in large metropolitan areas. It simply means that you can't solve housing issues locally. You have to deal with them at a large enough scale. Speculators hoarding the housing supply sounds like a market failure. If you believe in capitalism, the market will deal with the issue. Non-speculators will show up and build new housing, if you let them. If you don't believe in capitalism, there is always government intervention. The government could, for example, build public housing for 100 million or 200 million people, prioritizing areas with least affordable housing.