What's considered a "luxury" apartment in Bay Area is considered normal in many other parts of the country. I've heard it's mostly a scheme to avoid certain regulations but I can't find anything from a quick lookup. Regardless, while searching for an apartment recently, the term "luxury" was completely meaningless. I found luxury apartments that were cheaper and/or had less amenities/features than "affordable" ones. The biggest factor seems (often slight) differences in location rather than differences in the quality of the apartment itself