Jim Rogers is 74 and still invests on a longer time horizon than most 20 year-olds.. (My own Zen perspective is that we're in such a state of continual change, it's never really the same person waking up each morning – embrace the transience)
Since 1980 we've really had a very particular economic environment, which you can see reflected in the trend in interest rates (obviously)
I think the way you'd put is that trends in supply and demand are much more likely to be trends, and be cyclical, so the real long-term support for house prices is just plain old inflation.. I looked at a BTL a few years back, but realised the illiquidity, costs, etc. didn't make it ideal for my situation.. I've been quite happy with L&G's UK Property fund, with about the same rental yield I'd make.. But land could be a great thing to own when there's a $700tn derivatives bubble waiting to blow up.