Society & Culture

The Housing Trap

Why the World's Most Prosperous Cities Have Become Unaffordable — and What It Would Take to Fix Them

Alex Turner

Urban economist at the London School of Economics, studying housing markets, zoning policy, and the political economy of urban development.

February 15, 2026·9 min read

The Housing Trap

Housing costs in major cities have risen far faster than incomes for decades, pricing out the middle class and creating a crisis of affordability that is reshaping urban demographics, commute patterns, and social mobility. The causes are well understood; the political will to address them is not.

TOPICS

housingcitiesinequalityzoningurban policy

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