there's certainly fashionability, ego, and projection in homebuying that drives up bids, which can raise home prices in a given neighborhood over time, but that

there's certainly fashionability, ego, and projection in homebuying that drives up bids, which can raise home prices in a given neighborhood over time, but that's largely because supply is artificially limited by things like regulatory capture and demand is distorted by economic policy promoting price inflation. for instance, low interest rates mean that more house can be bought at a given monthly payment amount (everyone seems to assume more is better), which is the economic basis of that ratcheting you're describing.