> Unfortunately, so many people in the west have their net worth tied up in their homes that policies directly targeting property values is political suicide.
I long ago concluded that the only way to escape high housing costs is to leave high cost of living places. No reform large enough to make a real dent is politically feasible, and in some overpriced cities the sheer amount of construction that would be required to ease demand is itself problematic.
My generation (late gen-X / early gen-Y) was all about moving to cool cities and living where you want, but I don't think this works anymore. If you move to a place like New York or San Francisco without the move bringing with it a job that pays more than the real estate cost increase, you will never be able to accumulate wealth. Much of your surplus will be eaten by rent and you'll never be able to get on the ownership side where you can accumulate home equity because the rent won't let you gather a large enough down payment or buffer. (The prices are so high even a 5% down payment can be pretty sizable and you won't get a loan on decent terms for less than that.)
When these hipster urbanism trends got going the market was very different. It was right after the great urban crime wave of the early 1990s. Urban real estate was underpriced and going urban was seen as very contrarian, even bizarre and frightening. Going downtown meant affordable housing with nearby walkable stuff, cool old architecture (including those old school warehouse lofts... try getting one now!), and cool people. The underpriced real estate and semi-abandoned old buildings also provided a ton of "marginal space" for wild parties, underground performances, art, and all kinds of cool stuff.
Then the prices went absolutely crazy starting in the early 2000s and exploding after the re-inflation of the housing market post-2008. The core problem is that price signals didn't work. There should have been an urban building boom as more people urbanized, but a combination of NIMBYism and bad zoning largely prevented it. Demand went up and supply did not and grade school economics tells you the rest.
Personally I think the value proposition is gone now. Not only are the prices nuts but the cool stuff that provided a big part of the draw is all priced out. If I were 20 I would stay away from inflated real estate markets.
The only exception might be moving to one of them for a short while to build your career and then leaving. That may still make sense. But don't plan to settle there unless you land a massively high paying job. E.g. I would not stay in the SF Bay Area for less than $350k/year. If you're not in a field with high earning potential just forget about those places.
I'm seeing a quiet trend these days of artists and other creators working in areas that don't pay as handsomely as tech moving to small towns, and not even necessarily the "hot" cool ones. There are a few small towns in the Appalachian region that have become little artist havens.