> At the time of the article (1932) many families in London lived in slums, several people in one room, and worked from morning to the evening for really poor wages.

Having a lot of friends from Eastern Europe in London right now doing menial jobs - it is not much different for them. Due to reasons - housing is really squeezing people right now in a lot of places in the world.

It takes time for the prices to increase because it's not a liquid market. If wages or inflation are increasing faster then it creates a buffer time for these inelastic goods to catch up. There's also other factors, like institutions not maximizing profit, that slow down price increases. Also in the past there were less regulations, so it was easier for new homes to be built, for example.