Very good point.

For a long time, and especially since Covid, Americans have been moving out of major metro areas and into mid-metros. Given the huge disparity in real estate prices between the two types of metros, there's some natural cost reduction that has little to do with lifestyle downgrades or a general crash.

I'm particularly interested in the DC real estate market right now. Despite how underwhelming DOGE has been at draining the swamp, lots of swamp monsters seem to be moving out.