No, it's that humans don't like crowding. More competition for everything.

Humans who are incumbent property owners don't like crowding and want to preserve their privilege. Those who aren't don't mind being crowded in.

Or don't have any choice.

One test of that would be, do they opt for more personal space if the chance arises?

If people want personal space, the best way to ensure that is to buy up a large chunk of property.

What people actually want is 1) to live in a nice place where there are a bunch of amenities and 2) to have space. But since 2 is expensive in nice places, they use zoning laws and other NIMBY stuff to try and get the space at others' expense, rather than buying a sufficiently large lot, which is not cheap.