Great article. It seems that expensive housing has been a big part of the last 35 year economic period. The troubling thing is that if you combine the housing markets of the old common wealth counties, real estate makes up an astonishing part of the economy. In Canada alone, real estate transaction fees are more than 2% of GDP, comparable to forestry and farming. Productivity in the construction industry is also interesting. It seems with the cost of land increasing, all the gains have gone to land owners. The actual buildings are built on tiny profit margins, this had reduced training and innovation in the industry.