Bit late, but I think you're tying the concepts of assets a bit too much into this. Any expensive item can be an asset, it just so happens that land is by far t

Bit late, but I think you're tying the concepts of assets a bit too much into this. Any expensive item can be an asset, it just so happens that land is by far the easiest for governments to regulate and control. Houses are still assets in Japan, but they are much cheaper because of Japan's very loose zoning regulations. If we want to address this in the West, practically speaking higher levels of government need to override local government zoning regulations (ie. governments less beholden to the interests of the local few at the expense of everyone else)