Brilliant Deduction, Sherlock Yglesias!Gotta love this
bit from Matt:
When I speak to people in the city (which in fact does happen, since I do live here, reporting aside), they often see the fact that new development occurs in the same places at times when housing costs are spiking. Consequently, they often reach the conclusion that new development is causing price increases and that the best way to moderate price increases is to moderate the pace of new development. These charts indicate, I think, that this is a mistake.
You think? And you need a chart to tell you what to think?
This is Economics 101. Housing prices rise in response to demand. As the prices rise, it becomes economically sensible for developers to build to fill that demand.
