Housing (or rather, real estate) is an asset, a durable store of wealth.

Food and water are consumables.

Not durable, not wealth stores.

There's a great deal that hinges off real estate, especially in finance.

https://web.archive.org/web/20190115035057/https://plus.goog...

(And no, I'm not saying that high housing prices are good, but explaining the dynamic which drives them.)

Both supply and demand for housing is geographically constrained which mean that if demand in a local geography goes up, so does the price. This means that the market can be efficient locally even if inefficient globally.

Since food and water are not constrained in this way (i.e. can be transported), local price increases are usually due to inefficient distribution (supply chain issues/spoilage) or global supply shortages. This assumes that people consume a relatively consistent amount of food/water.

It's good to have an economy in which really good meals that cost 100x or 1000x as much as a normal, good-enough meal are available to those who want them. Likewise it's good to have an economy in which really good houses (which in practice means houses in particular locations) are available to those who want them.