With respect, the original post was only "universal basic income is such an attractive solution compared". You've now added a whole new element: "If getting a job isn't a requirement".
If not needing to live in the big city was the case, then that would indeed change the desirability of various properties across the market. This would be the case, with or without UBI. There's also no guarantee that "Oklahoma or something" would stay cheap if demand went up.
But big cities are desirable in other ways too (lots of common resources), plus UBI isn't necessarily so that people no longer need to work; If people move somewhere with cheap rent, but low business prospects, they'll get stuck in that situation, and a different kind of UBI-dependant poverty class with arise.
To TLDR this: this feels like the "Parable of the broken window" - The mechanics of the economy are too complex (and unintuitive) to be captured in a few speculative anecdotes, especially ones as drastic as "UBI making having a job unnecessary" - this is effectively the economic equivalent of a "toy project" - a toy argument so simple if fails to capture the complicated and significant side-effects that such a proposal with have; Needless to say, the road to hell is paved with good intensions, some of the most drastic socialistic changes have been disastrous.
If not needing to live in the big city was the case, then that would indeed change the desirability of various properties across the market. This would be the case, with or without UBI. There's also no guarantee that "Oklahoma or something" would stay cheap if demand went up.
But big cities are desirable in other ways too (lots of common resources), plus UBI isn't necessarily so that people no longer need to work; If people move somewhere with cheap rent, but low business prospects, they'll get stuck in that situation, and a different kind of UBI-dependant poverty class with arise.
To TLDR this: this feels like the "Parable of the broken window" - The mechanics of the economy are too complex (and unintuitive) to be captured in a few speculative anecdotes, especially ones as drastic as "UBI making having a job unnecessary" - this is effectively the economic equivalent of a "toy project" - a toy argument so simple if fails to capture the complicated and significant side-effects that such a proposal with have; Needless to say, the road to hell is paved with good intensions, some of the most drastic socialistic changes have been disastrous.