Real estate prices are inextricably linked to the wealthy, even just the upper-middle and middle classes. With the stagnation of wages and the limiting of the w

Real estate prices are inextricably linked to the wealthy, even just the upper-middle and middle classes. With the stagnation of wages and the limiting of the workforce, one of the only remaining routes to long term prosperity and social mobility is property ownership. This, if you're interested, is also why despite being emancipated for decades, African Americans are still insanely poor compared to whites; they can't afford property, which is the primary mechanism for enriching subsequent generations. They rent all their lives because it's all they can afford, and they have nothing to give their children when they die. Sorry for the bunny trail. Anyway, the problem is that everybody is always saying "we need more low cost housing" but what they tend to mean is "we need more low cost housing away from me", the good old NIMBY. Because property ownership is the only steady mechanism for upward social mobility, home prices must rise. Because home prices must rise, low cost housing must be away from you, because if it isn't it lowers the value of your home by virtue of being next door. I experienced this personally; when a foreclosed home in my neighborood sold for way under market value, the value of my home at its next assessment dropped by about $3k. So again; because home ownership is the only reliable path to long term wealth, people are very defensive (rightfully so) about keeping their property value up. This is where you get into how markets are always the best mechanism for generating wealth, but the tradeoff to that is they're terrible at allocating resources efficiently.