Not sure if Australia's current housing situation is analogous to America's one, but one of the primary motivators on our side of the pond is financial. Rents within 60km/35mi of the main Sydney CBD have crossed well over 50% of the average persons wage, at around $700/week. I currently live 45km from Sydney and pay $800/wk for a detached house primarily because I don't want to live in a 1 bedroom box in the city. Unfortunately, for that $800, I get next to no public transport and a local government that doesn't actually do anything useful. If I had the option I would gladly have stayed at home for a few years to start saving for a deposit on a house, which is no easy feat since the national average price is creeping closer to the $1m mark, and the average around major cities is already well over that mark.