[esharte]

Housing is used as an investment asset and a source of income rather than a home.

If you took all the investors out of the housing market, housing should cost just the price of construction.

[SilasX]

And a lot of government policy is based on getting people to buy a home, attaching a lot of net worth to its value. Then, surprise! People vote in a way that keeps up housing costs!

[MrFantastic]

In the more expensive areas you are actually paying more for the land than the house.

$500k properties are torn down to build new homes.