Other Housing Policy Options: The German Model

Interesting. The substance is from Forbes, of all places.

Housing prices are LOW in a well-managed economy, by @DavidOAtkins

I wish I could paste the whole article, but since I can't I encourage you to read the whole thing. The end result of all this regulation is that the economy remains stable and largely bubble-free, the middle-class stays out of crippling mortgage debt, housing remains plentiful and affordable, and speculative financiers have less power. Of all the mistakes American policy makers have made over the last half-century, making housing an investment to be inflated rather than a basic cost to be kept low may well be the biggest.

Our own model of endlessly inflating asset bubbles just doesn't make sense.  There is a constant tension between people wanting to treat houses as appreciating assets, and the imperative for people to actually afford a roof over their heads.