[win311fwg]

> So, housing cost has nearly doubled

That is in line with expectations:

1. The average house is ~60% larger than in 1970. More house equates to higher costs.

2. In 1970, the typical working-class man would spend time in a public house 5-6 nights a week. Today, third places are nearly nonexistent. Houses, largely driven by the internet opening it up to the world, has become more than a place to eat and sleep. Monetary spending is naturally directed to where one spends their time and energy.

[pickleglitch]

This is only part of the picture. Part of the reason houses are so much larger today is cultural, but I would argue a larger part is that economies of scale scale make it more profitable to build larger houses, so that's what developers build.

Also, the average cost of raw, undeveloped land in 1970 was about $197/acre, or about $1690/acre in today's dollars. Today the average cost of raw, undeveloped land is about $4,350/acre.

All of the other costs associated with building a house are higher as well. There are more regulations, materials are more expensive, etc. Labor is probably the only part of the equation that isn't much different after adjusting for inflation.

So it's not just that we all decided to buy larger houses and that's why they are more expensive. There are a lot of structural issues at play.

[win311fwg]

> So it's not just that we all decided to buy larger houses

If we haven't all decided to buy larger houses, who is buying them? Are you suggesting that they all sit empty? That data doesn't support that. Life isn't like Field of Dreams. If you build it, they won't necessarily come. You have to offer what the buyer wants, else they'll say "no thanks".