For much of the modern era, debates about housing focused on design, location and ownership. Increasingly, the defining issue is affordability.
Across many cities, housing costs have risen faster than wages, making home ownership harder to achieve and rents more difficult to sustain. This is reshaping life choices, particularly for younger generations.
Cities such as London and Toronto are often cited as examples where demand, limited supply and investment pressures have pushed prices higher.
The consequences extend beyond property markets. High housing costs can delay family formation, increase inequality and reduce economic mobility.
Governments are exploring solutions including new construction, rent regulation and reforms to planning systems. Some are also looking at alternative models such as cooperative housing or modular construction.
However, experts say no single solution is likely to resolve the problem quickly. Housing reflects deeper issues involving land use, finance and demographics.
The future of housing may therefore be judged less by how homes look and more by who can realistically afford to live in them.
In that sense, housing is becoming one of the central social questions of the coming decades.
