Can't afford to buy a house? You really should blame the planners...

Or so research from the Reserve Bank of Australia says:

...we find that, as of 2016, zoning raised detached house prices 73 per cent above marginal costs in Sydney, 69 per cent in Melbourne, 42 per cent in Brisbane and 54 per cent in Perth. Zoning has also raised the price of apartments well above the marginal cost of supply, especially in Sydney. We emphasise that this is not the amount that housing prices would fall in the absence of zoning. The effect of zoning has increased dramatically over the past two decades, likely due to existing restrictions binding more tightly as demand has risen.

So next time someone tries to tell you it's the banks or the housebuilders or immigrants or mortgage lenders or some other of the myriad excuses for high house prices, smiles sweetly and say:

"Nah, it's the planners."

....