I see that as a worldwide problem, as interest rates tend to zero.<p>In Brazil, real estate prices are completely out of touch with median income (at least, the rents are still affordable, because the typical landlord owns only one or two places and simply needs to rent to cover taxes and maintenance, he cannot sit on them).<p>Economists and governments paid too much attention to the inflation of the Big Mac and forgot real estate and other hard assets. Also, govts have a huge incentive to allow real estate bubbles: tax revenue, abundance of blue-collar jobs while the construction frenzy lasts, illusion of prosperity for whoever already owns the home, etc.<p>Yet another possibility is that too many people need to put dirty or excess money in a &#x27;safe&#x27; investment. I hear that Chinese buy a lot of real estate in London, Vancouver, etc. At least here in Brazil, the money you have in a bank can be frozen in a milissecond if you are suspect of a crime, but controls over real state are very lax, so a lot of corruption money goes into real estate, which fuels the bubble.