It’s not broken just because it fails to deliver a luxury you want, when and where you want it, for the price you want to pay.

Having unreasonable expectations would be okay, but people are calling it broken because a generation before this had this luxury but pulled the ladder behind them. We are supposed to progress forwards, not backwards.

Housing prices were unreasonably low, people realized it, and now we ran out of housing inventory in the very desirable parts of the country. Still plenty of housing in other areas.

Manhattan used to be very cheap, but it hasn't been that way for at least 30 years. Too many people want to live there now. Basic economic rules of supply and demand dictate the prices.

The only solution is to not play the game. You want a house, buy it where you can afford. There's no magic fairy that will sell you a standalone house in Manhatten on a cashier's salary.

No house in Manhattan on a cashier’s salary has always been the case, that is not something that has regressed. You should check what areas people complain about being unaffordable before dismissing it as “of course NYC and California are expensive”.