This paper primarily considers house prices and quantities in terms of single-family homes. They use data sources like the single-family repeat-sales index and the median home value from the American Community Survey, which mostly tracks single-family homes.
This focus limits their analysis by not fully accounting for multi-family housing units or rental markets, which are far more significantly impacted by supply constraints.
This emphasis on single-family homes in their data sources affects the generalizability of their conclusions about the impact of supply constraints across different types of housing markets, especially in dense urban areas where multi-family units and rentals are more prevalent.
They also only go as far back as 1980. The difference between supply constraints between 1980 and 2025 is very small compared to the difference between 1965 and 1980. Take Los Angeles as an example [1]. The zoned capacity of many metro areas was dramatically reduced by the mid 1970s.
This focus limits their analysis by not fully accounting for multi-family housing units or rental markets, which are far more significantly impacted by supply constraints.
This emphasis on single-family homes in their data sources affects the generalizability of their conclusions about the impact of supply constraints across different types of housing markets, especially in dense urban areas where multi-family units and rentals are more prevalent.
They also only go as far back as 1980. The difference between supply constraints between 1980 and 2025 is very small compared to the difference between 1965 and 1980. Take Los Angeles as an example [1]. The zoned capacity of many metro areas was dramatically reduced by the mid 1970s.
[1] https://www.lewis.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2020/...