"Didn't Japan have decades of 35% asset price-growth, as well, before it tanked?"
Did it? I'll take your word for it. I'll take that instance as another example of what happens to assets that grow too far. too fast. Sounds a lot like an asset growth story we know of that's a lot closer to our own shores.
As for the population growth argument - that hoary old chestnut is the mainstay of the property bull. Here's a look at populations for a number of countries that have suffered a housing bust, compared to Canada & Australia, the torchbearers for forever-rising-house-prices. Its quite clear that population growth in isolation does not guarantee continuing house price appreciation;
