My friend Joe Nabbefeld has a great post from the front lines of the real estate game at the Daily Journal of Commerce. Nabbefeld reports that people hunting for single-family homes are facing a struggle. What’s the solution?

It’s simple economics: Lower price by increasing supply. Supply supply supply.

As we’ve pointed out before, the City Council decided that 250 additional homes was not, in the words of Councilmember Burgess, “meaningful.”

Like many other people in the single-family market, I’m sure Nabbefeld’s customers would sure appreciate having a couple hundred additional options. Instead, Nabbefeld points out

If you’ve got more than 1 kid, you better have Income with a capital I or tolerance for a commute. Yuck.

It’s very easy to dismiss the single-family market because many people feel priced out. Theres a strange idea that no real human family is actually shopping for a single-family home in Seattle because they are all out of reach. That just isn’t true. There has and always will be a single-family market in Seattle.

With more jobs coming to our city–18,000 last year–many more folks will jump in the market. When the Council dialed down supply with their vote last Monday, the “nobody can afford single-family housing here” story becomes true. And once again young families will be talking over their lattes and soccer games about how expensive it is in Seattle–and maybe that house in Maple Valley might be worth it even with the long commute.

The conversation is about to get switched back on. Two-plus years of price gains have swung the pendulum back.

It’s too bad we can’t get a “do over” on that vote. Maybe in 2016?