[levbrie]

Another way to put it might be to say that because neighborhoods near the center are more valuable and attract more people, they also tend to attract other desirables, and that those other desirables tend to further drive up their value. When you rent in New York, you pay for location. A big part of the location equation is your commute. Another huge chunk of it is your neighborhood. And because the two are heavily correlated, commute time by itself tends to track total value of location quite accurately, to the point where on average every minute in reduced commute results in a $56/month increase in rent.