An advantage of a smaller population

The end of the upward price spiral on housing.

I cannot recall whether I read it, or heard it on the radio, but I think it was during an interview with the author Tim Parks, where he commented that in the region of Italy where he had settled, the idea of having a house mortgage was a little shocking. The area had been depopulated by emmigration and there were enough houses in the family that newly weds did not have to buy a house, that one would be available for their use.