[danhak]

That is a really good point.

I also have a pet theory that CPI understates the cost of housing due to people who are pushed out of entering the market altogether (e.g. homelessness rising, people living with parents longer)

Sort of the same way some people say unemployment figures understate the true number by ignoring discouraged workers / people who have stopped looking altogether. I have a hunch there are many discouraged folks who have stopped looking for housing altogether.

[nbardy]

You should take a look at Pia Maloney and Eric Weinstein work.

CPI is broken because it doesn't factor in a "change in taste or prefence"

CPI treats individuals as a giant unmovimg population mean.

To counter they change to use vector fields.

[xadhominemx]

Of course preference is included in CPI. Weightings are adjusted periodically as consumer spending patterns shift, and price elasticity is explicitly factored on a quarterly basis in chained cpi