Exactly, I've had this exact discussion with a friend who bought a house in a cheaper town. Fake numbers but for the sake of arguments: he bought a $100k house

Exactly, I've had this exact discussion with a friend who bought a house in a cheaper town. Fake numbers but for the sake of arguments: he bought a $100k house, I bought a $300k house in a more expensive city. Real estate did a 2x, his house is worth $200k and now he can't afford to move to a $600k place like mine - while I can move to an area with a similar cost of living as where I live now. The gap is even bigger because prices go up faster in big cities.