Ground, the stuff they don't build anymore. Seriously, the area a house is built on is a limited resource. In the US not so limited in theory but in practice q

Ground, the stuff they don't build anymore. Seriously, the area a house is built on is a limited resource. In the US not so limited in theory but in practice quite limited due to building permits and limited availability of working infrastructure (good schools are financed by local affluent clusters). This allows claims on location to act as a store of wealth similar to currency (issued in moderation) or bitcoins (minted in moderation) particularly as long as the population seeking housing grows. Japan is a very different place due to much more flexible building permit system, an ubiquitous infrastructure, a shrinking population and a confidence bursting bust in the past. Both situations are sort of mostly stable. An issue in the US is that the housing prices have disconnected from income through labor. What makes this really a problem is that housing is not the only asset where appreciation has disconnected. When this corrects the question is whether it simply corrects or whether the correction follows the path Japan has taken in the past. There are more people in the US but there is also vastly more land and Japan has shown that a society can change its mind about real estate as an asset.