House prices are high because land prices are high. There are some cities where permitting is a nightmare and the "brainy" people displaced the "brawny" people but those are the exception.

>Although from the videos it looks like the brick walls don't actually hold anything up half the time, so might as well replace them with brick patterned wallpaper

Idea: Assemble the wall paper on the ground with a machine and install it in one go.