[mateo1]

That's a great summary of what's happening. I'd probably add in the financialization of real estate and having effective oligopolies in some countries and cities. It really is that simple. If you want people to have decent, affordable housing, then you build (or simply allow the building of) enough housing, and make sure people own it, not sketchy LLCs owned by investment funds. The NIMBY component isn't that bad in south & east europe yet, but it's building up speed. There's millions of people who just want to live in decent flats with enough space close to the city centre and their jobs, and then there's all these people who don't want anything else built. That's how you end up like LA or London.