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by Moshe_Silnorin 3502 days ago
A government passes a law limiting the number of cars that can be sold. Manufacturers switch to exclusively luxury cars as they have much higher margins. Rich people buy them because they can afford them and need them. Everyone gets mad at the manufacturers and the rich people instead of the idiotic legislation. If we killed zoning laws, allowed modular housing and dorm housing, rents would drop very quickly.
2 comments

Yeah, it's hard to get this across to people who live in a city where it feels like supply is increasing fast (because it's in huge, highly visible towers), but as a percentage of the total stock, is growing quite slowly.

I lived in Vancouver for a while, and though people were totally on board with the idea that increases in demand for housing would push up prices, they were highly skeptical of the idea that increased supply could decrease prices.

> If we killed zoning laws, allowed modular housing and dorm housing rents would drop very quickly.

Except you just screwed existing home owners, which is why this will probably never fly.

I agree. This is a sustainable equilibrium. But blame the equilibrium or the homeowners for supporting terrible laws, don't start burning witches.