It is a location issue. Demand is high but in few places, and supply is fine, but exhausted in those high demand places and underutilized elsewhere. Americans

It is a location issue. Demand is high but in few places, and supply is fine, but exhausted in those high demand places and underutilized elsewhere. Americans seem obsessed with rising house prices as though they are good thing. But every time house prices rise it makes people far more "sticky" and harder to move around. That doesn't benefit anyone (except a few lottery winners). As a thought experiment would be it be better if house prices were around a dollar or a million dollars? Even if salaries dropped a bit. The solutions are apparent: * Make location less of an issue. Have national high speed and pervasive network bandwidth. People being (virtually) in the same room helps a lot whether they are employees or family. * That also makes training and education easier since its quality can be separated from the student's location * Encourage demand in other places - I'm not in favour of subsidies but getting rid of impediments is a good idea * Celebrate when housing prices go down not up as that enables mobility and rebalancing supply/demand * Single payer national health service not tied to employers. When people move their family needs to move. Remove health from the considerations. Immigration is good. You get to select the best and the brightest. This benefits the country and the immigrants. If the US does not do this, then other countries will.