How Dems Cause Higher Home Prices

Mickey Kaus has this:

Two Smythe Items in a Row: Steve Smith discovers an intriguing correlation between robust housing prices and Democratic voting habits:

[E]very state (and the District of Columbia) that voted for John Kerry last year, without exception, was among the top 24 states in the country in terms of the increase in residential property values since 1980.

Do Democrats produce rising home values or do rising home values make people Democrats? (The latter seems implausible.) Are both phenomena related to high education levels and/or a large concentration of universities? And how does this correlation jibe with the much advertised GOP dominance in the fastest-growing states, which you'd think would be states with rapidly appreciating real estate? Explain it away if you can, Michael Barone! ... 2:26 A.M. link

Yes, Mickey, Democrats cause higher home prices. It is called supply and demand. If the local government makes it more difficult and more expensive for home builders to build new homes, it results in a smaller supply of homes. This results in higher prices.

Liberal Democrats are generally anti-sprawl, anti-development, and anti-developer. Through the use of zoning, land use restrictions, environmental regulations, building codes and rent control (to name a few), liberals in government reduce the supply of new homes and increase the cost to build the ones that developers manage to build.

And yes, that definitely correlates with GOP dominance in the fast growing areas which have governments that are much friendlier toward develpment. People tend to move to places where they can get bigger and better homes at a lower cost.

UPDATE-- thanks to Betsy Newmark for the link.