Exactly. And using your money and influence to control development in a way that limits competition and keeps prices/rents artificially high (as is the case in real estate across the North America) is textbook cartel behavior. While there are some subset of developers pushing for increased development, as was pointed out downthread, the largest real estate lobbying group in the US works tirelessly against higher density development.

It’s funny how people can observe cartels in other basic inputs into the economy, like energy, but miss them entirely for the equally basic input of land/housing.