We had two types of competition in the past that are much less common now:

- competition from new builds

- competition from different locations

The first was killed by restrictive zoning. The second still exists but is no longer useful. You can move to West Virginia for cheap rent, but you'll have to move to a location without jobs.

The combination of far less people moving across states and of jobs concentrating in expensive places to live is what killed that second type of competition.