Fact 3. Buyers seek an asset (land with a house on) and some also want a house (a commodity, a structure, a thing) to live in
 

BTL, landlords, 2nd homers, o'seas buyers of bolt-holes are investors only. 

Those looking for a place to live are both investors and commodity buyers

Here’s what J R-C reminds us:

“Housing has two economic functions. It is both a consumption good – it provides

shelter – but also an investment good. In relation to the latter, residential property

can be:

• a financial asset providing realised and unrealised capital gains, and actual

and imputed rental returns;

• a source of collateral that can enable borrowing and increase purchasing

power, including to acquire additional property;

• a store, and means of passing on, wealth; and

• a hedge against rental risk.

It is important for housing policy makers to understand the impact of both types

of demand to ensure the efficacy of interventions aimed at enhancing housing

affordability. The demand for housing as a consumption good can be understood

as a universal need that the state has an obligation to provide for at a basic

minimum level.”

 

Put simply: the economics of assets is not the same as that for commodities — hence Fact 1: Build More won’t fix it.