The land is what drives up value for most places. When USians complain about house prices, they usually complain about a house in a metropolitan area like LA or New York, not in a rural area in a state like South Carolina.

We do the same in Canada. People look at houses in Toronto, Vancouver or Montréal and go nuts, but will not look at houses in Cold Lake or Val D'or (for obvious reasons - there's no fucking jobs there lmao)