> The largest factor in new housing construction is land cost, and withholding land from new construction largely as a financial asset. This is incorrect. The

> The largest factor in new housing construction is land cost, and withholding land from new construction largely as a financial asset. This is incorrect. The largest factory in new single family housing construction is land cost. The largest factory in MFH is hard costs which account for 50-70% of costs compared to land at just 20% (see: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/making-apartments-more-affordable-starts-with-understanding-the-costs-of-building-them/).Both https://www.brookings.edu/articles/making-apartments-more-af... Tokyo and Vienna have substantially reduced zoning restrictions for private and public, respectively. I really don't know how you come to square the circle that "new construction [is] largely a financial asset" and "building more housing does not diminish the value of existing assets". The reality is MFH zoning is incredibly difficult in most urban zones; just look at the recent Manhattan-Harlem MFH project that was canned for a truck park due to the affordable housing crowd demanding too many concessions. Or SF. Or any number of cities that cannot effectively build housing because they really don't want housing enough to make changes to their zoning codes.