Jim Gaines, Chief Economist for The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, agreed: “The Austin-Round Rock MSA looks like it is moving toward a more normalized housing market.

I just heard about this from a podcast on the Economist. 

Some economists think this is no problem.

The Demographia report, along with one from the Economist and other sources were discussed on a thread here back in May.I am at a loss with respect to your socialism argument as I made not statements about socialism and housing prices.  

Economists will tell you that while they know that certain actions have some effect in certain a direction, they are far from certain regarding the degree of effect or what all the actions that have an effect are. 

By some economist estimates, we're still over 5 million units behind the demand.

New housing starts unexpectedly plunged more than economists projected in June as home builders grappled with the effects of rising interest rates curbing demand for new homes, according to data released Tuesday, adding to signs of an abrupt turnaround in the booming housing market.KEY FACTSThe number of housing starts, or ​​new houses on which construction has started, fell 2% to about 1.56 million last month despite average economic projections calling for an increase of 1.4%, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.Building permits were slightly above expectations, coming in at less than 1.7 million, but fell from May and are down from about 1.8 million in April.In emailed comments after the release, LPL Financial chief economist Jeffrey Roach said housing starts declined because demand is “quickly drying up” from higher borrowing costs as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, though he expects home building activity should hold up despite the grim outlook.Pantheon Macro chief economist Ian Shepherdson was less optimistic, pointing out single-family starts and permits both fell by 8% in their fourth consecutive month of declines and noting construction activity lags sales, which in turn lag mortgage applications.Mortgage applications have collapsed more than 25% this year, he adds, suggesting single-family housing construction "needs to fall by [another] 20% or so over the next few months” to be more in line with demand.The latest data comes one day after the National Association of Home Builders reported the second-worst single-month drop in home builder confidence on record, driven by ongoing production bottlenecks and high inflation that have pushed the cost beyond its market value in some cases.KEY BACKGROUNDHistorically high savings rates and government stimulus measures helped ignite a home buying frenzy during the pandemic, but signs of a slowdown have quickly emerged as the Fed embarks on its most aggressive interest rate hiking cycle in two decades to curb high inflation.

These are just my thoughts and I am by no means an economist so feel free to comment.  

When inflation is low and stable, monthly core inflation is roughly 0.2%, on average, said Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.Core CPI rose 0.2% in November, after a 0.3% reading in October — down significantly from 0.6% in September and August."

Economists are optimistic the economy will bounce back in the latter half of 2020, growing at a rate of nearly 6% by the end of the year.The Good:April collections came in stronger than most expected.Multifamily as an asset class fared among the best in real estate during the last recessions.