Rules and regulation's push up the cost of basic building. (eg Must be brick, must have 6 star energy rating, must have landscaping etc, etc)
Although this does push the price of building up, its probably beneficial at a social and environmental level that these rules are in place.
My problem is with the price of land, how it gets from $10,000ha as farm land to minimum $200k for modestly sized block.
fifty years ago, half a years average wage could buy you a block. these days you need three years wages to buy something very very basic. That's six times more expensive in real terms. If we want a fair system, these really need to come back to a middle point somewhere. 1 - 1.5x average wage.
If you can get people affordable land, build they will.
