Journalist Derek Thompson has published an in-depth essay arguing that claims of an emerging home-builder oligopoly are overstated and misdirected. After interviewing economists and industry analysts cited by antitrust advocates, Thompson writes that none support the view that large builders are deliberately constraining supply to lift prices. Using Dallas–Fort Worth as a test case, Thompson notes that the metro area’s two largest builders accounted for 30 % of new homes in 2023—well below the 90 % threshold economist Luis Quintero identifies as worrisome. Quintero told Thompson that his own research was being “100 percent” misapplied and that rising per-capita construction in Dallas contradicts the idea of market-wide under-building. Other experts contacted by Thompson—including John McManus of The Builder’s Daily and ResiClub’s Lance Lambert—said zoning and land-use rules, not builder concentration, are the primary bottlenecks. National Association of Home Builders data showing builder profit margins flat to slightly lower since 2002 further complicate the monopoly narrative. The essay has sparked a fresh round of debate among housing economists and antitrust commentators such as Matt Stoller, underscoring a widening split over whether regulation or market power is chiefly to blame for the nation’s persistent housing shortage.