Local governments also want to see the price increase because it increases their tax revenue disproportionally. You've got local governments in high col areas way overfunded. This creates an incentive for local governments to block housing with "open space" laws that environmentalists love. The area where I live outside LA was built in the 50s and 60s and then in the 80s they passed a bunch of laws to make it illegal to build more. The selfishness of that generation will never cease to amaze me. It's not boomers. It's their parents. Think Reagen.