There have been a number of studies looking at this, but the TLDR is that globally most new construction is and always has been high-end compared to the surroun

There have been a number of studies looking at this, but the TLDR is that globally most new construction is and always has been high-end compared to the surrounding market. What typically happens in a healthy market is the rich overwhelmingly live in new construction (or remodels), and everyone else lives in the places that rich people lived in 10, 15, 20, or more years ago. Since construction is durable, a luxury apartment building from the 70s should still be a nice place to live as long as it has been maintained. And if lots of nice new stuff has come in since then, the old stuff should be in less demand and therefore affordable. For well-studied examples of this, see Japan: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-housing-crisis-in-japan-home-prices-stay-flat-11554210002 https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-housing-crisis-in-japan-ho...