tbf, you actually could make quality housing, high-density housing for an affordable price, and sell (not rent) it for a profit...some real estate developers back in the day used to do this.

it's just these businesses realized they could make even more money not building homes, if they captured legislature to get themselves a bunch of speculation incentives then just purposefully didnt build anything new while sitting on old land/buildings.

there is a long history of this same cycle of housing boom/bust going back centuries. there have been occasional surges in housing when someone with actual morals and work ethic acquired the capital to throw down housing.