[vaidhy]

The most obvious answer seem to be around population density. What is the population density of your small town? Why would the developers not build multi-story apartments/condos?

Why is there no supply of multi-family buildings anywhere outside of cities? If everyone wants a single family home with a yard, you are going to run into space limitations.

[japhyr]

I live in Sitka, AK. I don't know my town's land area, but we're roughly a 14-mile strip of land right between the base of steep mountains and the ocean. Most of town is about a half-mile from coast to mountains, with some stretches much narrower than that. We have about 9,000 people.

> Why would the developers not build multi-story apartments/condos?

Most of the same reasons as many places, with the added issue of not much undeveloped land to build on. Who wants to build a multi-story building when you can build an expensive house and deal with a single buyer? Zoning laws are controlled by people who already have homes, and don't prioritize accessible housing. People don't want to see the value of their home drop. People don't want their views blocked by tall buildings.