Yeah it’s a pretty sad situation exacerbated by the pandemic too. A lot of people left cities, but in many cases (e.g. my city) prices still went up anyway. I bought in early 2020 before the insane price hikes, and now I’m very glad I did as basically nobody can afford these prices unless they’re already in the market.
But I agree with everything you said, and I vote against the “preserve our single family neighborhood” politicians whenever I see them on the ballot.
The problem is just, people picked where they live partly based on the environment. People don’t want their neighborhoods changed. That said I don’t like zoning that makes it impossible to try and buy people out so you can build a apartment building.