"The Land Trap" by Mike Bird

I picked up this book because the WealthSimple email newsletter recommended it, featuring the author in one of their latest issues. I don't know what I expected, but the book is profound in history and facts about how it came to have such high real estate prices. Essentially, it all boils down to:

• Land as a financial asset is relatively new, yet it has been a source of wealth forever
• Americans spearheaded the financialization of land
• When a country's wealth grows through land value appreciation, it's a trap
• Getting out of this trap will hurt people
• The author presents Singapore as an example of how to avoid land traps (but not how to get out of one)

Overall, I found the book very boring (which is fine, I'm not a financial guy), yet I do believe some will find it fascinating.

I also found it interesting that owning land opened many lines of credit, with the land as collateral, which gave already rich people access to much more capital.