What you have just described as real terms is actually nominal terms, and what you’ve just called relative terms is what is actually called real terms.

This is not hard.

In Real Terms, they must come down - and, without a change in course, will come down one way or another.

How is up for debate, maybe wages rise and inflation eats their value without an actual numerical change - but not recognising this is just historical illiteracy.

And the result of not bringing house prices down is an eventual economic collapse.

There is no painless way forward, the choices are manage the problem, or have the problem destroy us.

They don’t have to come down *quickly*