[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.