[Aurornis]

> Then why did houses used to be affordable even in those dense regions with high paying jobs?

Because those city centers have remained the same size while demand for living there continues to increase

More demand for a fixed set of land drives prices up.

Those city centers today are not equivalent to the same city centers 35 year ago.

[xethos]

> More demand for a fixed set of land drives prices up.

This works because both you and GP specified "[free-standing] house". This is not true of homes, where multiple homes can occupy the same land - just 15 feet higher or lower

Perhaps someday more American cities will discover the third dimension, allowing for cheaper housing

[_carbyau_]

Don't get me wrong, there is a place for units/apartments, especially in the face of homelessness. But no one dreams of owning an apartment as opposed to a free-standing house.

The dream/desire is the thing.

[ButlerianJihad]

https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Weird-Al-Yankovic-2/Buy-Me...

  Gonna buy me a condo
  Gonna buy me a Cuisinart
  Get a wall-to-wall carpeting
  Get a wallet full o' credit cards
  I'm gonna buy me a condo, never have to mow the lawn
  I'm gonna get me da T-shirt wit' the alligator on

[wan23]

Why would you want to live in a free-standing house instead of a nice apartment given the choice? There are pros and cons sure, but unless you can hire someone to do all the house things I don't see it being a clear win.

[kelnos]

> But no one dreams of owning an apartment as opposed to a free-standing house.

I think you might be a little out of touch. Plenty of people dream of owning any kind of real property.

[_carbyau_]

Mate, I am well aware of the struggle, I am living it too.

But we're talking dreams here. Imagination. Do people really feel the need to be frugal with their imagination of what they desire?

Do people really think "Gosh, what I could do with a billion dollars.... no wait, I need to conserve my brain energy, my imagination is getting too expensive, better make that tree fiddy." ?

[diogenescynic]

I think you're focusing on the wrong thing and missing the point. Housing supplies have not significantly increased with population growth (demand) in decades--thus the price equilibrium has moved up. I don't care if you build up or out and neither does the law of supply and demand. The left gets all hung up on 'the right kind of housing' and doesn't realize they're part of the problem--making it harder to build housing (of any kind) is pushing housing costs up.

[WarmWash]

Just to take it one step further, there are usually geographical reasons why cities are located where they are.

So you also can't just build a new city in central Nebraska and have everyone move there for cheap.

This is besides the entrenchment that happens when industry is in one place for a long time.