[willis936]

Cathedrals are the highest tier of vanity projects of one of the most powerful institutions in written history. It's little surprise that the makers knew the top three most import factors for real estate value: location, location, location.

Are they pointing to anything though?

[ttepasse]

At its core a cathedral is just a church where the cathedra (the "throne" of a bishop) stands. Can be any size, take a look at Nin, Croatia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Cross,_Nin

[masswerk]

Cathedrals were erected by the townships and were indeed a major economic investment. They generally payed off well, giving raise to tourism (then known as pilgrimage) and elevating the status of the city, both with considerable effects on commerce. If you were a major town or city, or aspired to become one, you definitively wanted to build a cathedral. (And, as already pointed out by several other comments, none of these locations were cathedrals.)

[SideburnsOfDoom]

> and elevating the status of the city

Indeed, having a cathedral is a thing that can define a settlement as "a city".

Source: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/what-makes-a-city/

[mensetmanusman]

Harvard has more wealth than the Vatican.

[willis936]

Did they 1000 years ago?

[ImJamal]

Harvard didn't exist 1000 years ago so obviously not. You could also argue that the Vatican has only existed since 1929. Prior to 1929 the Vatican wasn't independent and prior to that it was part of the Papal States (aka its own country)