I have an A record for *.local at my test domain to 127.0.0.1
For web development it is often required to have a domain name rather than a subfolder in localhost. A vhost for a (sub)domain is easy to set up on my local apache instllation. I can have even a free, valid SSL certificate for that vhost. Wait, what? How can I have a valid certificate for free for a local domain? I use Let’s encrypt with DNS chalange. Sure every time I have to update the certifacte I have to change a DNS txt record, but that is easy.
Another reason why I have a wild card record to 127.0.0.1 is that I can add as many vhosts for testing to apache and don’t have to add or change the DNS settings. Also I can use it on every computer as long as it can query the DNS server on the internet. I can even give my co worker my vhost config and it works without changes.
So *.local.apachehaus.de is free for development. But you can’t have a SSL certificate. If you want that, you can do the same trick with your domain. Happy development.