Does PEX require home runs?
PEX uses fittings that have a smaller inside diameter than the tubing, unlike copper where the fitting ID is typically the same as the tubing.  That smaller ID is going to reduce your flow rate vs. copper if you have a lot of fittings between the source and your fixture, as you might in a non-home-run situation where fixtures are teed off a main trunk.  In a properly installed system, this will be countered somewhat by using larger diameter tubing for that trunk line.

So that's the theory, but in practice I can tell you that I've now lived in two houses that were plumbed in non-home-run PEX and never had problems with reduced flow in the remote fixtures.  Both of these houses used 3/4" PEX for the trunk and 1/2" PEX for the branch lines.