I think that's a big chunk of it. It explains a question that's been nagging me: if we've been pumping money into the economy for over a decade, why isn't there inflation?
Answer: there is, it's just asset inflation, not consumer inflation.
Still, if real estate is one of those assets, that should have filtered down to the consumer level. Is it isolated away from most consumer real estate? Or has the real estate fraction of CPI actually been rising while something else is falling to compensate? (The latter should be easily testable, but I don't have time at the moment.)
Answer: there is, it's just asset inflation, not consumer inflation.
Still, if real estate is one of those assets, that should have filtered down to the consumer level. Is it isolated away from most consumer real estate? Or has the real estate fraction of CPI actually been rising while something else is falling to compensate? (The latter should be easily testable, but I don't have time at the moment.)