OK dumb fucks, Econ101 time....
Home prices rise for TWO FUCKING REASONS
1. Higher wages, 3% a year give or take
2. Payment affordability
How do you manipulate payment affordability?
1. You create agencies (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, FHA, VA) to offer loan products that wouldn't exist in a free market. 30 year mortgage loan, 50 year mortgage loan, 96.5% financing, etc.
2. You create tax loopholes to make buying a house less expensive (interest deduction).
3. You destroy the working class by outsourcing jobs to manipulate inflation lower and then lower interest rates.
4. If that doesn't work, you manipulate how inflation is reported (OER, substitution, hedonic adjustment) and then lower interest rates.
5. If that doesn't work, you force the Federal Reserve to buy Mortgage Back Securities, which lowers mortgage rates, which lowers payment.
That's all that determines the price of the home. What some dumb fuck with a normal job can afford the payment on next month.
Oh, you like proof? Every fucking time the inflation adjusted mortgage payment rises above the 100 level, it destroys sales volumes. The market becomes illiquid because its overpriced.
But homeowners are dumb fuck mouth breathers and don't understand how home prices are determined so they hold out until its too late.