An Economist Asks, Why is Housing SO Expensive?
Video: Supply Shortage? Speculation? Financialization of Housing?
While housing economists have done a nice job documenting the causes and effects of secular increases in housing costs, as well as helpful interventions—there are other possible causal links that come up in both learned and casual conversations that tend to go underexplored.
In this explainer video, Dutch Economist Joeri Schafoort considers the three likeliest explanations for the housing cost crisis:
Supply shortages (he calls this “construction failures”) because of NIMBYism
Speculation/Housing bubbles
Financialization/Cheap Mortgages
While his work here isn’t comprehensive, it is a nice introduction to all three, their relative strengths and shortcomings, some related methodological questions, and comparative market thinking.
It’s a quick watch on 2x, or you can view the transcript here.