> There's no reason why housing appreciates year after year. Of course there is a reason, multiple ones. Land, of course, but that's the easy one so let's ign

> There's no reason why housing appreciates year after year. Of course there is a reason, multiple ones. Land, of course, but that's the easy one so let's ignore it for the sake of argument for a moment. Let's say land price remains constant. Housing will still appreciate simply because everything related to it goes up. Contractor labor and supplies. So to build a new identical house on an empty lot next to an older house will cost more than it cost to build that old house. But they houses are identical so they compete for the same buyer. So inevitably the old house value will go up to match the new house that cost more to build.