About this episode

Chuck Marohn discusses the complexities of the housing crisis with Andrew Burleson and Jeff Fong, focusing on market dynamics and financial incentives.

Chuck Marohn has long been critical of housing research that treats affordability as a simple supply problem. This week, he brings Andrew Burleson, chair of the Strong Towns board, and Jeff Fong, a board member at YIMBY Action, a new paper on Australia’s housing crisis that starts somewhere else: with the way price increases move between detached houses and apartments, and from one city to another. The paper argues that detached homes help lead the market, while the discussion keeps returning to a harder question: how much of the crisis is about housing supply, and how much is about the financial incentives built into the market? ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "The role of price spillovers in the Australian housing crisis: A two-market analysis" by Shu-Hen Chiang, Chyi Lin Lee, and Chi Man Eddie Hiu, Sciencedirect.com (June 2026) Chuck Marohn (LinkedIn) Andrew Burleson (LinkedIn), Free Range City (Substack) Jeff Fong (LinkedIn), Urban Proxima (Substack) Articles Mentioned and Downzone: Fifa (Site) 'We Can Never Go Back' (Substack) Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company, by Patrick McGee (Goodreads) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom. This podcast is made possible by…

People in this episode

Host: Chuck Marohn

Guests: Andrew Burleson, Jeff Fong

Topics covered

• housing crisis
• affordability
• market dynamics
• financial incentives
• urban planning

Keywords

• housing crisis
• affordability
• supply problem
• price spillovers
• urban planning

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Strong Towns, YIMBY Action, Free Range City, Urban Proxima

Books & works: The role of price spillovers in the Australian housing crisis: A two-market analysis, 'We Can Never Go Back', Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company

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