Lack of supply due to zoning restrictions is undoubtedly a huge part of it.
"Zoning" to me seems to be a modern version of "kulaks" for neoliberal types that just can't grok that there is something fundamentally rotten in the entire system. And have no real practical solutions to fix it.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-08/zoning-regulations-ad...
It's not surprising that every major urban centre has inflated property prices. Restrictive zoning laws such as the ones studied above are more common than not. San Fran, London, Australia, Berlin, what have you. NIMBYism is the default. Homeowners aren't going to willingly vote away their profits.
Not only is there solid empirical evidence, but it makes evident sense. There is no cap on supply due to the ability to build vertically. Rapidly inflating prices significantly above cost over a multi decade time frame makes zero sense in a market economy without an artificial cap on supply. Gold would be cheap (at cost) if more supply could be invented/constructed, irrespective of how many people wanted to invest.