Source please. I can see how increased demand for property in an area would increase inequality but not the reverse. When the cost of living rises but you're not invested in the parts of the market which gain from higher valuation, you're going to lose ground until either you can't compete or you buy in. And if you can buy in, great. But I suspect few locals have the capital or professional skills to ante up.

Geographic mobility is a key term it seems

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v80n2/v80n2p1.html

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/labor-mob...

Movement by whom, the poor or the rich?