[tremon]

In a supply shortage (which is the housing market in most areas), prices follow the purchasing power of the buyers, not the goods' value. And since we've had years of 0% interest rates and accompanying mortgage rates, purchasing power was astronomically high even for owner-occupier buyers. Property investors add even more high-power buyers to the market, and further reduce the supply.

The only way to bring down housing prices is to out-build the demand -- which no constructor will do voluntarily, because it's a guaranteed loss proposition. Personally, my only hope is that remote work will even out prices between low-value and high-value areas -- but I'm aware that proximity to the job is not the only factor determining the value of an area.