It's not a canard, it's the ostensible reason for the current (high) state of rental and home prices.

That said, it's great news that so many rental units will be made available in the next few years.

Yes it is entirely a canard.

How many units were built in 2006, 2007, and 2008?

wooster has a good comment looking at some numbers (his second comments is interesting): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6066612

thanks, yes his data is very useful.

figure 3 on page 11 illustrates the point I was making:

http://www.sf-planning.org/ftp/files/publications_reports/20...

Even though it was two years ago, we're still feeling the after effects. There is a considerable lag time between approving new construction and actually getting some built. One bad year (such as 2011) can cause lasting pain for many years afterwards. 2011 still feels very much like the present.

Markets work.

Look at the price of housing from 2007 to 2011, and if you understand the role of price in marketplaces, you'll understand why construction was so low.