Well, this is true, and it's also true that it's only certain areas of certain cities we're talking about as well. I'm living in/near one of the desirable citie

Well, this is true, and it's also true that it's only certain areas of certain cities we're talking about as well. I'm living in/near one of the desirable cities that's struggling with issues of affordable housing because of the large influx of new and wealthy residents. And yet, there are still many places in the city where housing is cheap. It's just not desirable because of poor schools, high crime, poor infrastructure, and a lack of interesting places within walking distance. So I agree with you, this talk of cities is misleading. The real issue is that the supply of the kind of places that people want to live in doesn't meet demand, and that these things are extremely inelastic in the short-run (it usually takes years to build up these kinds of neighborhoods).