> The prosperous parts of the geographical area NYC is in have very high housing prices and very little new housing construction I suspect you are arguing base

> The prosperous parts of the geographical area NYC is in have very high housing prices and very little new housing construction I suspect you are arguing based on incorrect intuition here, this simply isn't true. Some of the neighborhoods with the most construction in the last 15 years include the financial district, Manhattan's west side (Chelsea all the way up to the the UES), and the brooklyn/queens waterfront. Where I live, in the East Village, many new luxury buildings are going up. http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/08/18/reshaping-new-york/ http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/08/18/reshaping-new... In the next several years, midtown east - some of the most expensive real estate in the country - is going to be transformed with millions of more square feet of office space in a huge rezoning plan: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/east_midtown/index.shtml http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/east_midtown/index.shtml A little bit north of there, in one of the most expensive residential neighborhoods in the country, there is a residential boom going on - soon, 4 of the tallest buildings in NYC will be around 60th st: http://gizmodo.com/four-of-americas-tallest-buildings-are-being-built-on-1327172554 http://gizmodo.com/four-of-americas-tallest-buildings-are-be... >I'm willing to bet the high cost of living (mostly driven by very high housing prices) is the number one driver of outmigration Doesn't this contradict your original point that everyone wants to move to NYC? Anyway, I agree, but this isn't relevant because it's regulated by supply/demand - this is as close to economic fact as you can get. As I showed in a previous comment, supply growth has outpaced demand growth for decades now. Housing prices are going up in NYC because wealthier people are displacing poorer people as jobs move here and the city gets safer/nicer, not because there is a housing shortage.