[kelnos]

The thing that I will never understand is that the incumbents with this attitude are still hurting themselves with these policies. Even if they own a home and are protected by Prop 13 from large property tax increases, they still have to contend with all the rest of the problems that the housing crisis brings. Perhaps the fear of change overrides common sense, but I find it hard to believe that, rationally, the neighborhood "changing in character", or home values dipping the slightest bit, would be worse than the other negative realities that NIMBYs still experience here.

[manfredo]

I think a lot of it boils down to an ingrained belief that real estate should be an investment. Everyone buys a house with the expectation that its value will go up. This means that homeowners are extremely adverse to policies that might reduce home prices (like building more housing).

Contrast this with houses in Japan, where it's expected that a home is a depreciating asset. Houses in the Special Wards of Tokyo can be bought for $300-400k: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbC5j4pG9w

[kelnos]

That's a very good point. I'm of the opinion that a primary residence is a liability, not an investment, but it's true that I'm in the minority when it comes to the US.