Every time there is a price bubble, that time is "different".

Then it's not.

You can call it a bubble or not, as you like. But the fact is that we have more people that want houses/apartments than we have houses/apartments. What that means is that when a house is up for sale, there are generally multiple offers, and the price gets bid up. At a time when there are not multiple offers, houses do not get bid up. That is when a "bubble bursts," or a "market corrects," or whatever the hell you want to call it.

You can get to that situation either by increasing the number of houses for sale, or by decreasing the number of willing buyers.

If anyone here can refute any of that, please do. Those of us who say that the City needs to back off on the ridiculous SF5000 zoning are asking that the supply of homes be increased. It seems to me that is a fairly logical response to a shortage of homes, given that the number of people who want to live here is not going to drop anytime soon. Will this "blossom into a bounty of benefits for all"? It probably won't solve all of our problems but it would be a start.

Anyone have an answer to a shortage of housing that does NOT involve building more housing?