Citation needed with respect to expensive cities. And you don't even need to get very far away from many of those cities--like an hour from Boston, for example--until land isn't really a limiting factor.
At least near DC yeah condos are pretty cheap. I haven't checked Boston but it means housing supply is something that can be increased to meet demand so provided the local regulators are at least partly competent they shouldn't be too expensive.
In Boston metro I doubt you could find a decent condo in a decent area for much less than $500K. Which you can get a house on some land for an hour outside the city in some communities.
Citation needed with respect to expensive cities. And you don't even need to get very far away from many of those cities--like an hour from Boston, for example--until land isn't really a limiting factor.