[crazygringo]

> The author is concerned that builders will stop building when prices fall, but that's rational. Suppliers should respond to changes in prices.

Exactly this. Once you've built enough new housing and so the price has dropped to the point where it's not economical to build anymore, you're done. It's mission accomplished. The goal was achieved.

But the whole point is that you have to actually build all that housing to get there. Which is what we want. The author seems to be deeply confused about basic economic principles.

[bandofthehawk]

That doesn't solve the issue of housing being unaffordable to new buyers. How do you address affordability if the prices stop dropping before they reach a price at which an average young worker can afford to buy a starter home?

[bluGill]

We need to allow smaller houses such that people can afford to buy them then. Or we need to build apartments of all sizes so people can afford to rent them. The above is not an exclusive or - buying a house is a great choice for some and a terrible choice for others.

Affordable housing used to include a room where you share a bathroom and kitchen with the entire hallway. Affordable housing used to include tiny shacks. Air conditioning used to be something not even the rich had.

[sokoloff]

If the prices dropping to the cost of construction plus a 20% profit margin isn’t enough to make housing affordable then those people just literally can’t afford to buy housing.

Build smaller, worse, and cheaper until they can.