But don't you have to wonder what in the institutional structure of the locality creates market conditions that allows one to use homes as an idle store of valu

But don't you have to wonder what in the institutional structure of the locality creates market conditions that allows one to use homes as an idle store of value? Sounds to me like a late order effect of restrictions in supply. Up to certain extremes, if such restrictions did not exist, then increases in property values would lead to a stimulation in supply bringing the prices back to a more equilibrium state. San Francisco, and the Bay Area as a whole, is dealing with such issues as well. Vast restrictions on supply on a multi-decade timespan have created an anti-virtuous cycle of rising property values followed by more support for supply restrictions by incumbent property holders followed by further increases in property values and on and on. Foreigners are an easy political target since they are usually unable to participate in the political process. "Other" bias also has strong rhetorical power unfortunately. But the real solution seems to lie somewhere in institutional reform around property rights protection(ie, use/build as of right).