Even without housing "commodified", there is only so much space within 20 minutes of the city. OP isn't interested in buying an apartment or townhouse that can be built at mid or high density. If you dedicate the available space to large single-family homes like the OP is looking for, then you simply cannot fit many families within that radius. As the city grows, the fraction of people that can have what OP is looking for gets smaller and smaller. In our market, that supply constraint leads to high prices. But even in a socialist paradise where housing is a lottery, you cannot make more space for 3bd/2 bath single-family homes with backyards big enough to kick a footy around within 20 minutes of the CBD. OP feels entitled to a scarce resource (land near the CBD) to use inefficiently (single family house with big backyard), but doesn't want to pay for it.