I have a strong suspicion that a lot of it is the rise of the two income household. In the early years it increased household buying power, but as it became the norm many services began raising prices because people could actually afford to pay them now. So the net result is that the increased productivity from nearly doubling the workforce turns into higher and higher executive salaries while the average middle class household is now roughly back where we started, with the added burden of a whole second career.
Yes, this seems to make lot of sense. Initially second income maybe additional savings, day-to-day conveniences, some extra luxuries etc, now it is part of survival.
Since second job is sold as "freedom from household drudgery" and GDP booster it can't really be challenged.
Yeah, and property is a positional good. Its price is a function purely of willingness to pay. So if you double household income, and perhaps quadruple theoretical discretionary income (after food, energy, gas and so on), give it 40 years and real-estate inflation eats the damn lot.
Yes, if you can substantially increase supply in the top decile or quartile, in terms of desirability.
That's difficult, for all sorts of reasons. NIMBYs protecting their investment is one aspect, but the maths of density, transport infrastructure and travel times is another big deal.
Walkable, interesting downtowns AND big floorplans AND low taxes AND abundant supply within a short travel time is a tough set of constraints.
