A lot of what makes US real estate a "good investment" is that powerful interests protect their investment by reducing to allow more productive use of a scarce resource.

This is explicitly cited in the private equity SEC filings that buy single family homes and rent them out: the PE forms know that rents will continue to rise because existing homeowners control the political process that would prevent that rise: allowing more housing.

This is classic economic rentierism that harms everyone that is not profiting from the artificial scarcity.