To be fair, it's easier to make them if they're mostly facades for show.
Quasi-theocratic hereditary absolute monarchies also tend to have ways to make things happen that more democratic governments find difficulties with.
Good. Governments shouldn't be involved in building residential buildings to begin with.
Well yeah, but at least they have a lot of housing... The alternative is what we have everywhere else, governments not building anything and also not letting others build anything meaningful. I mean sure, in theory there are better alternatives, but not in my country and probably not in yours either, so housing in even mildly desirable areas is too expensive for normal people.
Do you honestly think this north Korean real estate is actually attainable for normal people? It's a communist country. I'd washer that you either have to wait for
20-30 years in queue to get a single room (not single bedroom, single room) apartment for the whole family, or pay a hefty bribe.
I don't know about North Korea, but in my part of the former USSR housing was very much attainable for normal people. Much more so than today, actually. You didn't have to wait in the queue for more than 3-5 years to get one, and you definitely didn't have to get a mortgage and then part with most of your salary for the next 20 years. Pretty much everybody I know got 1-3 room apartments for free, including my parents.