[refurb]

Whoa, we just went from "single family home" to "single family home...in locations with no transport other than car and no stores etc nearby".

I never said people prefer that.

I said people prefer a single family home, a yard and a car. That's not actually achievable in most city centers (unless wealthy) so many people give up location in exchange for a single family home, a yard and car.

Thus, suburbs aren't forced on anyone. Many people chose a single family home, in the suburbs, over an apartment in the city. The cost of that is not being able to walk everywhere, and people are willing to pay that price.

[watwut]

This is what the thread starts with: the American style of suburb is quite unusual compared to e.g. Europe though, and AFAIK is driven by zoning laws and car-centric infrastructure more so than by consumer choice. Markets don't necessarily offer people what they want, people's imaginations are often constrained by what's available on the market. Something something, "faster horses".

You specifically said "I don't buy it" to the above comment that was about car oriented suburbs specifically.

Nowhere you specified you are changing topic from the above (suburbs) to "house anywhere".

[refurb]

I said “i don’t buy that people are forced to choose suburbs and don’t actually want them”.

I mean, people leave SF to move to the suburbs south of the city. They need a car, but they can also walk to their Main Street.

Based on the fact the price of that housing is more, I’d argue people want to live in the burbs over an apartment in a city.