Surely at least part of it is the concentration of wealth and economic activity. There's large masses of decaying rural towns where houses are cheap, but at the same time the whole reason they're decaying is because there just isn't enough economic opportunity to afford even these cheap houses.

I have no clue what the overall balance of housing looks like, but surely it doesn't help that big chunks of the housing market are being deprecated at the same time.

I always sound YIMBY but yes, that’s another part of it.

The economy has hyper-concentrated in a small number of cities and regions.

Telework has helped a little bit to reverse it, but it’s nowhere near enough and it only works for some industries and roles.