A question that's puzzled me for a while is why home buyers focus on price/sqft so much more than renters. I asked around for what other people thought and got some interesting answers, so I decided to write up my takeaways. I. Investments demand legibilityHomeownership is an investment and consumption good, while renting is just a consumption good. As a result, buyers are forced to think of it in more legible ways as opposed to just an amenit...

Epistemic status: Pretty sure of the structure of the argument (~80%), not so sure of the valence of the coefficients (~60% that agglomeration does not overwhelm the supply-demand effect). Epistemic effort: Medium effort. This idea has bounced around my head for almost a year, and over that time I spoke with several friends about it. Then, I had a long conversation in which I formalized it a bit more, at which point I decided to write it down....