I am looking forward to the wealthy not mortgaging their homes, but having them built from scratch. And not “McMansions”, but quality homes they hope will last generations.
It's never made sense for a house to have a mortgage of more than $250,000 (even now). If a person can't afford more house than they need, how are they ever going to maintain it?
All the home building today is pretty much code driven.
Very little craftsmanship or even trades skills remain.
It’s tough enough to get the contractor to actually read a set of prints and specs. They glance at it for general dimensioning, then build by off the shelf techniques.
That would require a return of very cheap skilled labor, certainly. Most of the heirloom type of estate houses around here were constructed no later than the Great Depression. I’ve been in a house many times with stunning paneled rooms, coffered ceilings and the like, that were built in the thirties by a master cabinetmaker who lived in the servant’s quarters and exchanged his skills for food, shelter and a little pocket money for himself and his small family. You do what you have to do.