Morgan Housel

It's we don't build enough homes and we need to build more.

And we're probably short in America something like three to five million homes that we should have right now that we could build.

We have enough money to do it.

We have the supplies, the lumber, the windows to do it.

We could get this done and we don't.

And so it's one of these problems that like if you really get down to it, it's a choice.

that politicians and regulators and communities at large have made that we don't wanna build more homes.

Why not?

I think if it comes down to it, there is the battle between NIMBYs and YIMBYs.

Yes in my backyard, no in my backyard.

And I think it's not too simplistic to say that the group of current homeowners, particularly if you've owned a home for a long time, like it when the value of those homes go up, makes you feel wealthier.

I'll get into a second why they're not actually wealthier.

And if you build more homes, the price will go down.

That's basic supply and demand.

And then if the value, if your parents, your grandparents own a house and the value's gone up a lot and you build a lot of new homes and the price declines, they don't like it.

And some of them, if they bought recently, might find themselves underwater and potentially owe more on the mortgage than the house is worth.

and people don't wanna go down that route.

Now I said, people feel wealthy when the value of the house goes up, but they're not actually wealthier.

And now I'll show you what I mean.

Let's say you buy a house for 300 grand, and 10 years later it's worth 600 grand.