Millennial, your personal philosophy and preferences are anecdotes. I am just telling you what the economists and demographers who study these issues for a living say.

Population growth is a pretty minor factor for housing prices that is easily outweighed by others. Del Mar’s population fell by 12% since 1980. How did real estate do during that time?

As for better housing not leading to happiness, it really depends. If I moved up from my 800,000 house to a 1.6m one nearby, probably I’d be a tiny bit happier. But I know I was happier when I moved up to this one from a more cramped situation.

My comfort level and space requirements were largely set growing up in suburban 1960’s houses of about 2200sf on big lots. I did not like being more cramped when I first moved here. It was like a slight background anxiety was lifted when I moved to a bigger place with more space and privacy (and I could do so within budget).