Housing and Demographics

Here is an even longer-term graph from 1960 through 2060. The surge in baby boomers reaching their 20s (red), led to a huge increase in apartment construction in the early 1970s.

Then home-buying became favorable in the late ’70s, but housing still slumped in the ’79 to ’82 period as the Volcker Fed raised interest rates to fight inflation. This is one reason I’ve been arguing Don’t Compare the Current Housing Boom to the Bubble and Bust, look instead to the 1978 to 1982 period for lessons.
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Population data is very useful in predicting long term trends, however, other factors (like in the 1980 period) can overwhelm demographics in the short term.