There's also another kind of inflation which comes from the 1% having too much wealth and the shift in the Gini coefficient. That makes all the things that wealthy people buy much more expensive and leads to asset bubbles. So Housing (again) along with stocks, bonds (driving the evaporation of risk premiums), the whole financial sector and art and baseball cards.
What's special about housing, health care and education compared to say food, cosmetic surgery or tech is immense amount of govt meddling that both restricts supply and boosts demand. Everything from general regulatory burden to explicit things like zoning, certificates of need and healthcare subsidies, housing subsidies, etc. The results are predictable. Nothing whatsoever to do with profit seeking.
I think barriers to entry. In other markets profits like in these 3 industries would lead to an influx of new entrants which would put compete away excess profits. But try opening a new hospital or school - years of work and regulations to fight, and new schools have a long uphill climb to achieve reputability. Housing is constructed by bullshit restrictive zoning.
But this is not inflation. It's a completely different issue, with different causes and possible solutions.
> But this is not inflation. It's a completely different issue, with different causes and possible solutions.