[Atlas Sneezed]

Some big factors in housing prices:

Environmentalism (and NIMBY "I was here first" zoning), which close vast areas of usable land (increasing lot costs).

Inflation. The interest rate controllers may pretend otherwise, but we have inflation. And anyone who built a home over the last year or two can tell you that essentially every material has substantially increased.

[bill1952]

Essentially, China is sucking up a huge amount of housing materials, and that does increase the price in that sector.

[Lowcountry]

Reasons for rising Home Prices/Values:

1.)Material costs of construction are rising rapidly, which is due to:

2.)Demand increases from a growing population, which is exacerbated by:

3.)Age-extended generations now need housing for 3 generations vs 2 and

4.)Net In-Migration to many regions from immigration and population shifts to the sunbelt and finally

5.)George W's growing economy makes people rich enough to buy homes instead of renting.

I could add in the costs of government regulation and boomers buying second homes, but I think you get the drift. BTW - I'm a developer.