Otherwise "I actually have no idea what I'm talking about" but MY SENSE is that during the great housing boom/bubble of the aughts you could basically plunk down a housing development anywhere in the suburbs/exurbs with little political resistance. Now I'm regularly reading about suburban/exurban developments which are being blocked by locals in various ways, something I just don't remember from before.
There's also a little of chitchat about the horrible olds who are "aging in place" and refusing to downsize and sell their too big houses to the young people and moving to small condos more appropriate to their needs. Many municipalities don't allow the building of many smaller apartments/condos, particularly not ones that are of a slightly larger size that families might use (want to keep the poors out of the school district). Olds might not need their McMansions, but that doesn't mean they want to move into a 1 bedroom, especially when supply is so tight that it doesn't even save them much money. And apartments in a country without much tenant protection don't provide you with the kind of security that a paid off mortgage does.
Random unconnected and uninformed musings. Also this stuff varies from place to place of course. It's a blog!
