Matthew Yglesias says regulation, not capitalism, drives high US housing costs

What was said

"But it's very much not a free market. You know, it's one of the most it's probably the single most regulated sector in America. um you have a higher odds of getting permission from the government, you know, to build a new kind of airplane than to put an apartment building up in a suburban neighborhood. And it's that lack of freedom that has created all of this scarcity."

Matthew Yglesias argues that high US housing costs are driven mainly by restrictions on building, not by private investment in housing. He says that even a shift to government-run social housing would not ease shortages if local planning systems still block new construction where demand is strongest.