Podcasts episode·Aug 19, 2025

Building Costs vs. Housing Prices: Why Construction Isn’t Driving the Crisis

Tess Vigeland and Chad Syverson
Listen / Subscribe:

Historically, one major reason has consistently been cited for the growth in housing costs in this country: the rising cost of building homes. But that relationship is changing. In this episode, University of Chicago economist Chad Syverson breaks down 75 years of data to reveal a surprising truth—construction costs and housing prices have become “completely decoupled.” From the post-WWII boom to today’s record-breaking market, Syverson explains why building materials and labor costs can no longer explain skyrocketing home prices, and what factors are really driving the housing affordability crisis.

View All Episodes
Related People

More on this topic

Podcasts episode·Oct 1, 2024

What Can the North Dakota Railroad War of 1905 Tell Us About Regulating Modern Monopolies?

Tess Vigeland and Chad Syverson
When the Soo Line threatened to expand into the Great Northern Railway’s territory in 1905, the two companies entered a fierce competition for marketshare in which the they rapidly constructed nearly 500 miles of rail tracks and over 50 new...
Topics: Industrial Organization
Podcasts episode·Apr 30, 2024

Fighting Traffic in Chicago: Lower Fares, More Trains, Fewer Buses

Tess Vigeland and Milena Almagro
American cities are overreliant on cars. Policies for reducing this gridlock and pollution range from changing public transit fares or frequencies to introducing new tolls. In this episode of The Pie, Milena Almagro, Assistant Professor of Economics at Chicago Booth,...
Topics: Industrial Organization
Research Briefs·Apr 25, 2024

Location Sorting and Endogenous Amenities: Evidence from Amsterdam

Milena Almagro and Tomás Domínguez-Iino
Different demographic groups tend to prefer different types of amenities, and businesses respond by expanding amenities in neighborhoods with greater demand. This pattern reinforces residential sorting, with ambiguous effects on inequality.
Topics: Industrial Organization