re: #238 Expand Your Ground
Yes, but B follows from A.
IOW, the reason now costs are higher is rooted in that the ideas of everyone owning a house and spending an extended young adulthood in academic exercises (vice say working in the field or digging a ditch) demand the availability of more resources per person being available for these activities.
As the area/person of a dwelling increases the cost of said dwelling (and filling it with goodies, and maintaining it) go up.
Our society has formed itself around the collection of goodies (status symbols) and acquiring “wealth”.
This goes right to the heart of what we are - primates, with tribes and social status. We can’t escape what we are.