> Except for land itself, all of those things have become exponentially cheaper in the last few decades. That is, cheaper to make. Housing in particular is kept

> Except for land itself, all of those things have become exponentially cheaper in the last few decades. That is, cheaper to make. Housing in particular is kept artificially scarce, largely due to its role as a financial instrument. You have that backwards. Housing is a financial instrument, because demand for housing remains high in specific areas; far in excess of supply. Choose a less popular rust-belt city and the home cost will be one third to one quarter of the coastal cities. Housing is also expensive because of the labor involved.