This is a lot of mental gymnastics to pretend people don't need places to live. More people are born, hence more housing is needed.
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/states/california...
That includes both births/deaths and in/out migration. Population growth rate has been generally falling since 1990 (except for a peak in 2000) and significantly so since the GFC in 2009. However, prices have skyrocketed.
China has overbuilt their population by 10-100million (yes, and there are even more outrageous numbers) homes over the last 10-15 years, and yet prices in Shanghai/ Beijing/ Shenzhen still exceed NYC or SF by 50%. They have a falling population.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_price_rankings?it...
This is not even a new problem. The imperial landed gentry was so named because bureaucrats would shovel their money into land.
Population geography also shifts from rural to urban and from declining to rising cities even as the total population size holds constant or shrinks. The fact that there is space for you on a farm or in a coal-mining town is cold comfort to someone with a STEM degree and a job offer at a corporate headquarters.
Average house size has increased significantly over time. Average household size trends broadly downward, with rare counterexamples.
When is "better" also "more"? Because better costs more, just like more area costs more. What resources should be redirected from quality to quantity?
It's harder live further out, when traffic slowdowns extend commute time 10x. And governments love the idea that expensive roads can be waved away using environmentalism as an reason.
Yet these same governments don't build fast transit either, and without fast amd efficient transit, trips take far far longer than a car.
At this stage we should be building both, as we're that far behind.
The point is, there is a move for 'dense urban areas'. Pack 'em in. Increase that housing density. Yet there is another way in North America, where there is often an endless bounty of space. Better transportation corridors.
Better transportation corridors means that housing costs plateau, because it's just easier to drive 10 minutes more, 20 minutes more, than spend 4x for housing.
That said, even the laptop class often does need to commute:
* Many remote workers have to attend once a week, or more often.
* People make lives, friends, contacts, have relatives in specific areas.
* Every once in a while, you may need to go to "the city" for something important. Medical treatment or specialists, specialty products, etc. Not everything can be shipped, or is shipped.
Anyhow, it seems you sort of missed the point, that is... the faster you can get into a city, the further you can live from the city and still be part of it.
This reduces housing value close/in the city.