Here's one way to think about it: In many countries, government policy has been (in some cases explicitly) that house prices should always go up. (The calculat

Here's one way to think about it: In many countries, government policy has been (in some cases explicitly) that house prices should always go up. (The calculation is that more people own homes than rent, so this should be worth votes on net.) If you have an asset class that, by government policy, keeps getting more expensive, then that will be very attractive for investors. Is this a good policy? No, I think it's catastrophically short sighted. But it's what we've got. But it's important to keep in mind that while a pile of manure may attract flies, the flies didn't create the manure...