This is correct. The population is growing faster than new homes are being built, especially in hot economic regions that people are migrating to for the promise of a better job (CA, NYC, Seattle, Denver). It's always implied that this is a problem, but renting is fine. Home ownership is just a form of renting where you stop paying the mortgage at some point, and keep having to pay the property tax and HOA dues. Some people seem to think that passing a home down to their children is better than passing money down, but I don't see how that makes any sense.