I think it has more to do with how we build cities. If you think about it all cities just start off as a collection of single story buildings in the central bus

I think it has more to do with how we build cities. If you think about it all cities just start off as a collection of single story buildings in the central business district (CBD). As the city grows the CBD slowly gets replaced with bigger and bigger buildings. Under normal market forces high rents should be reduced because builders will build more units in the area to meet demand. However, the major factor that prevents this is government planning that restricts market forces from occurring. The end result is there is not enough supply to meet demand which ends up in bidding wars. The rent rises to absurd rates until it meets demand. Also cities are more likely to build high-density commercial since those companies are generally bigger taxpayers and consume less government resources compared to residential.