[lalaland1125]

We know that monetary factors (like the federal reserve) can't be the main casual factor because rents are increasing at very low vacancy rates at the same (if not higher) rate as the price of housing.

If the fed was the primary factor we would see a divergence between housing prices and rent since the fed has minimal direct effects on rent.

Looking at the data, the primary driver is simply that more people are competing to live in urban centers as we have banned the construction of additional housing in most cities.