This is an over simplification. The closer you live to the city center the higher the cost per square foot. School distracts and preferred neighborhoods also get premiums. Size matters but there are other factors. There is also interest rates on mortgages. Low interest rates pushes housing prices up and makes larger houses more affordable. Throw in a little asset appreciation and a larger home becomes an investment. There is no question that the banking system needs housing prices to go up as a critical part of economic growth. The question is when are people going to wake up and realize the American Dream of home ownership is for bankers not home owners. It’s the bankers that benefit from every home needing a mortgage. It’s the people who are misled into thinking higher housing costs makes them wealthy when in fact the cost of housing will remain the same after they sell their home, which means there is no net benefit unless they downsize into a new cheaper home but that’s true of anything you own. The wake call society needs is to realize that bankers run our economy and just because they have healthy financials does not mean any other aspect of society is doing as well as it could. Housing costs are a great example of the banking system driving up the cost of living, turning life into a rat race. A different set of priorities guiding monetary policy would force the cost of living down… but that would mean putting banks in the back seat and people first, if only a politician would espouse for such a noble goal.