> store all their net worth into their main tax free house

If you take speculation out of the housing market, storing net worth in your main house becomes a lot less attractive.

Which was the way housing was for many years.

A house used to be viewed as a consumable good a hundred years ago, not an appreciating asset. (Before the New Deal commoditized mortgages)

	▲	mothballed 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		At least in USA, since pretty much the absolute beginning, anyone with any wealth tried to gobble up the absolute most amount of land they could. Both as a form of wealth and a productive input. This has been less so in the past century though as agriculture has become smaller part of the economy.