I grew up in Edison. In the 50/60/70 builders did build small ranch starter homes on 1/4 or 1/2 acre lots. Those homes are now being sold for $500k+ to builders who are knocking them down and building new houses and selling for $1M+.But developers did at one point build starter homes.
That’s why you need government intervention. But the government doesn’t do much right.
There is no new land to build on. The town is full so it’s only knock downs from here on out. There is no starter home. Any home cheap enough to be considered a starter home is basically run down and will have a builder buy it for the land. There is nothing that the government can do about that nor should there be.
But I also agree with the other posters that the government restrictions aren’t helpful to the housing market.
I’m not sure where is NJ there is enough open space to build starter home from a government program???