Do you have kids? I feel like apartment living as a family is worse than a spacious single family home and yard and all that. I suspect that preference holds true for most people.
Most kids are only into playing in the yard for a couple years really. Before long they are preteens living in their room, probably seething at the fact they need a ride from a parent to hang out with any of their friends.
Apartments can also have stuff you could never afford that a kid would like, such as a massive pool (try pricing out a new build pool these days).
> I feel like apartment living as a family is worse than a spacious single family home and yard and all that. I suspect that preference holds true for most people.
And families do it in NYC, and Hong Kong, and Germany, and Spain (AFAICT, 65%), and…
They manage, but it's not a good experience. The apartments are usually too small for families and the ones that are big enough are too expensive. This is solvable, but has not been solved.
Think about having to share a bedroom with your child, and when they're old enough to need their own one, putting up a partition wall and having each be less than half the size of a normal bedroom, very cramped. And you don't get a living room. (If you did have a living room, now it's your bedroom while the child gets the actual bedroom)
Apartments can also have stuff you could never afford that a kid would like, such as a massive pool (try pricing out a new build pool these days).