I think a lot of people mistake cause & effect.
What if the housing is being built because they expect rent to go up?
If supply went up say 5% and rent went up 10%, what do people think would have happened in the 0% supply increase mirror universe?
People can't just make you spend money.
US has been underbuilding housing, especially in blue coastal cities, for generations. The last 25 years has seen a big move back to these cities where everything is getting bid up. And then the surrounding burbs, commuter built, secondary cities, etc follow suit.
You're talking hypothetical, I'm talking factual and historical. There's no 'what ifs' here. There was price fixing and the courts are going to decide the magnitude. What you're saying is not false, it actually makes it worse, making already scarce housing even more inaccessible. It's actually quite amazing to see homeless people on the streets, service workers commuting hours/week, first responders not being able to afford living locally and at the same time more than half the newly built apartments empty just to help keep the price up.
If supply went up say 5% and rent went up 10%, what do people think would have happened in the 0% supply increase mirror universe?
People can't just make you spend money.
US has been underbuilding housing, especially in blue coastal cities, for generations. The last 25 years has seen a big move back to these cities where everything is getting bid up. And then the surrounding burbs, commuter built, secondary cities, etc follow suit.