Why does housing cost so much?

Here's a very interesting article on the underlying costs of building a single family home. Well-researched, clearly-written, lots of detail about why it costs to much to build a new house.

Because of the enormous costs of housing, it's worth understanding where, specifically, those costs come from, and what sort of interventions would be needed to reduce these costs. Discussions of housing policy often focus on issues of zoning, regulation, and other supply restrictions which manifest as increased land prices, but for most American housing, the largest cost comes from building the physical structure itself. However, in dense urban areas — the places where building new housing is arguably most important — this changes, and high land prices driven by regulatory restrictions become the dominant factor.

I really enjoyed the entire article, lots of fascinating observations and lots of additional links to chase for those who want to learn more. So I wanted to share it.