I think it must’ve looked very different back then. Probably a developed urban center surrounded by agrarian communities, instead of the mixed, developing community it is today.

Real estate has been an investment vehicle used for capital preservation for millennia.

In some ways, it is just more noticeable now. Because even countries like the US had a huge push for public infrastructure in the road network, state schools and energy when those things were both more and less important than now. Now urban housing, broad education and energy efficiency have become more important with changes in society and the economy. But there isn't the same public influence in those areas now.

That is, there were always estates, land, and business. And private education. Just that public investment created and enabled other opportunities. A massive road network enabled sprawl where additional housing could be constructed at a decent cost. Now the economy wants density for network effects, but there isn't a similar expansion in public transport. So urban housing has become very valuable.