Why early battlecruisers displaced an intermediate cruiser

Early battlecruisers were close enough in cost to armoured cruisers that navies preferred the larger ships; an intermediate type became more attractive only as battlecruisers grew costlier.

Question

Why was there no 15,000- to 18,000-ton cruiser class in the 1910s?

Short answer

Early battlecruisers were close enough in cost to armoured cruisers that navies preferred the larger ships; an intermediate type became more attractive only as battlecruisers grew costlier.

Notes

Relative cost and industrial capacity explain this gap between ship classes better than displacement alone. Early battlecruisers such as the Invincibles cost little enough above armoured cruisers that navies could choose the more powerful type. By the time of HMS Tiger, battlecruisers had become expensive enough to create room for an intermediate cruiser.