There are A LOT of counterfactuals that would suggest some significant problems with the hypothesis presented in this article, even for those of us who think property price inflation is generally problematic/ inefficient.

May I suggest having the world's reserve currency, main military/economic power after ww2, the house prices/shortages/sizes in the wealthiest parts of the US (and the rest of the western world), and differences in distributions of wealth/ income/services/lifespans, natural endowments, etc as rather big elephants in the room in any discussion on this topic...

All of which would suggest the true answer is far more complicated, and gives credence to the old saying about there being a simple and wrong answer for every problem.