[zemo]

you're ignoring everything other than the intrinsic worth of the house itself as an object.

E.g., if you had a house in North Dakota in 2005 and then they discovered the Bakken formation in 2006 and the shale oil boom started, the value of your home would appreciate because of the rapid influx of oil industry labor. The price of something isn't determined by its intrinsic value alone; it's what people will pay for it. If people will pay more for it tomorrow than they will today, it's an appreciating asset.

If the population is growing faster than the housing stock for that area, the demand for housing goes up.