Exactly - it is a symptom of the different regulations in the different city centers.
That, and a cultural shift toward wanting to live in cities, even though many of these financially struggling millennials would do just fine financially in more distant suburbs.
The movement away from cities had a lot of reasons that have been solved(jobs came back, riots, red lining, less pollution, less crime) so I'd say the cultural shift was justified to return.
Commuting sucks too.
They had a housing shortage for the past few years and removed a lot of restrictions. Recently they actually overbuilt despite a shortage of skilled construction workers.
You can build hella fast when the demand is there and the government wants buildings fast. We're talking skyscrapers in 12-14 months.