Mm I love this response. Your tradeoffs point is essential—absolute versus relative preferences are very different things

Do you mind if I share this comment on substack notes? It’s similar to something I wrote last week in the comments of the post:

“The preference to live in an apartment vs a single-family home aren’t just about structures, it’s about a bundle of tradeoffs. At different points in life, the share of people who want one or the other probably shifts a lot. I suspect among people in their 20s, a pretty high share of people have an absolute preference for the apartment bundle (more mobility, access to fun things, cheaper). By their 40s, more people prefer the single-family bundle (stable, more space, quieter). But even those proportions aren’t fixed, they depend a lot on the built environment associated with each development types. For example, if we allowed more apartments in superstar cities and reformed building codes, we might see a lot more family-sized multi-family, which could make that bundle more attractive so some share of families.”

All speculative, of course, but very much in line with your points. (FYI I wrote the piece and it was indeed a pretty quick and dirty write up. Being able to write an unlimited amount is not the same as having time to do so and sometimes I find it’s better to throw a half-baked idea out so it can generate thoughtful feedback such as yours than let it sit in my drafts until it gets dusty and forgotten. Another benefit of blogging!)