What is the cause in your opinion? Undersupply? Or an economic stable equilibrium that sucks for everybody besides owners?
The west could leverage by doing that plus having an option to have a country side home and car for the weekend. Instead we have busy highways, old buildings, slow common transportation, etc...
New York is a good example but it blows my mind why they don't invest more in the subway, modernize the buildings, etc... Plus it cost a fortune to live there.