The rent in Melbourne and Sydney is pretty insane also... we have the very same problem. This is why a few people bootstrap from SouthEastAsia : low_rent == longer_runway :]
Real estate demand is extremely price-inelastic, which is why a disaster that destroys 5% of supply would actually double (at least) the supposed "value" of the remaining land. Regulatory corruption often has the same supply-destructive effects.
High rent is an undesirable (and, one hopes, temporary) byproduct of urban health, but not a real correlate because its long-term effects are disastrous.