The prevalence of luxury apartments flies in the face of the overbuying section. People overbuy on apartments as well.

Every time I see someone arguing about minimum wage, their benchmark seems to be having a 2 bedroom apartment, not a studio or even a 1 bedroom. I find this wildly unrealistic.

Apartments also sell people on amenities that almost no one uses, but justify higher rent prices.

These luxury apartments are used in the same way people use their over-bought homes. It’s a way to buy into a different class of neighbors, feel like you’re not sacrificing with a rental, signal to others that you’re doing well, ideally have better management/maintenance, and live in a place that out-classes the home they may otherwise buy… all with no maintenance or investment.

I’ve seen some crazy rent prices. I’m not sure who is renting these places, but someone must be, because they keep building them.

I prefer renting, but I ended up buying a house because rent prices starting going up beyond what I felt with reasonable.

Where I live, any rental building from this century will be marketed as luxury. There is in fact absolutely nothing luxury about them. Everything is cheap and crummy, just not too dirty/smelly/with rats (yet). Rents are 5-7k for a 2b and being luxury or having amenities have nothing to do with this. Supply and demand do. There are enough people who make this kind of money and value living in a place that is half-decent + easily commutable to the city more than the 6k.