Most of the cost of housing absolutely does not come from land except in massively overpopulated cesspits. Proof: a 1600 sq foot single family home on an acre of land is going for approximately $350k here currently. At current land valuation $30k of that is the lot. I live 15 minutes away from one of Apple's satellite offices so we aren't talking a ghost town in Nevada either. Cities suck, as does the expectation that everyone crowd into one.