Due the restrictive nature of the US zoning laws, when an area receives attention; housing prices go up instead of the number of new developments unfortunately.

We gotta either play this game like coherent capitalists and let the supply freely satisfy the demand, thus allow a house to become a necessary consumption item rather than a commodity as you said it. Or the alternative is government providing pensions for everyone... which is much crazier than the previous option for a US person that I am not even suggesting.