"Durning analyzes seven cities that differ wildly ― by location, governing model and built history. But he finds that their common denominator is that, despite high demand, they have managed to stabilize housing prices by increasing unit supply.
He begins with the obvious case study of Houston. While not completely unregulated, Houston has lighter regulations than other major U.S. metros, and builds much more housing than any of them. Although Houston receives many of the stereotypical scapegoats thought to increase housing prices ― millionaires, immigrants, corporate relocations, and luxury condos ― median home prices in Harris County remain $141,000. But Houston, he writes, comes with a caveat. It maintained this affordability by sprawling out. Can the same be accomplished in dense, land-constrained cities?
Next he covers Tokyo, a dense city where the answer seems to be yes. The city built 142,000 units in 2014, well over double any U.S. metro that year, and 58,000 more than in California, which has triple Tokyo’s population. As a result, single-family homes in centrally-located Tokyo neighborhoods sell for $300,000 ― obscenely low compared to similarly-situated homes in major coastal U.S. cities. Between 2007 and 2014, condo prices in Tokyo actually dropped, despite the city’s rapid densification."
https://marketurbanismreport.com/great-urban-myth-cities-cant-build-way-affordable-housing/
He begins with the obvious case study of Houston. While not completely unregulated, Houston has lighter regulations than other major U.S. metros, and builds much more housing than any of them. Although Houston receives many of the stereotypical scapegoats thought to increase housing prices ― millionaires, immigrants, corporate relocations, and luxury condos ― median home prices in Harris County remain $141,000. But Houston, he writes, comes with a caveat. It maintained this affordability by sprawling out. Can the same be accomplished in dense, land-constrained cities?
Next he covers Tokyo, a dense city where the answer seems to be yes. The city built 142,000 units in 2014, well over double any U.S. metro that year, and 58,000 more than in California, which has triple Tokyo’s population. As a result, single-family homes in centrally-located Tokyo neighborhoods sell for $300,000 ― obscenely low compared to similarly-situated homes in major coastal U.S. cities. Between 2007 and 2014, condo prices in Tokyo actually dropped, despite the city’s rapid densification."
https://marketurbanismreport.com/great-urban-myth-cities-cant-build-way-affordable-housing/