From this chart(https://inflationdata.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Inflation-Adjusted-Housing-Index-10-21.png https://inflationdata.com/articles/wp-c

From this chart(https://inflationdata.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Inflation-Adjusted-Housing-Index-10-21.png https://inflationdata.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/1...) we can see that in inflation adjusted terms, housing was much more affordable prior to about 2001(give or take). I think generally speaking, housing changes hands now much more often than it did before the internet, and there is much more investment/speculation going on as well, which drives a lot of the additional cost nowadays.