Worth noting for folks who think that supply is the only problem. Similarly in my home of Vancouver the construction of towers has been constant for decades and prices have only skyrocketed in response.

Certainly if you stopped building completely you'd eventually have a real problem, but the evidence is clear to me that you'll never reach the incredible supply levels that would cause prices to drop (why would builders do this anyway?).

There is also what Ebenezer Howard, the inventor of garden cities, called the “unearned increment”, which is the uplift in value when land becomes available for housing. It was the basis on which postwar new towns were built. Currently it is being squandered – when the government, for example, relaxes planning constraints on certain properties, or makes it easier to convert offices or shops into homes they drench the lucky owners of such places in cash, without asking for much in return.

Vancouver captures this. It goes toward community centres, the arts and increasingly housing. http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/community-benefits-from-de...