Cities facing an affordability crisis would need to build homes at a pace exceeding that reached at the height of the housing boom to ease demand and lower prices, new analysis shows.

The nation's largest cities, including LA, NYC and Boston, would need to build more homes per year than they did from 2000 to 2010 to effectively combat enormous rents, the Wall Street Journal reports. And while the mayors of these three cities are calling for increased construction, all of their lofty targets fall short of accommodating the new residents expected in each city over the next several years.

“The reality is these places are getting larger. There are more people coming to these places because they have good jobs. If they don’t want to have crazy affordability issues, they’re simply going to have to build more,” says Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell. The good news is that in the most recent quarter rents in S.F. and NYC fell for the first time in six years. [WSJ]