What reasons can you think of for California being unable to build enough housing to keep prices affordable? Do you think zoning and property restrictions and regulations might be related? As someone who is interested in the California real estate market, I'm wondering what the fundamentals are that keep the prices so much higher than other states. It seems like earning money here and moving into a much larger house elsewhere might be the smarter move.
California has amongst the most extensive urban sprawl in the entire country, so it's strange to think of it as a place where zoning and property restrictions restrict supply. LA is world-famous for its urban sprawl and car culture! And in the Bay Area, you can drive from Millbrae to Gilroy while going through nothing but endless suburbs for 65 miles. Meanwhile, Portland has super-restrictive growth and zoning policies, and is much cheaper. So I think there are more factors at work.
The "decent neighborhoods" are fully built out in LA. New development is an hour drive (without traffic) from the interesting parts of the city. What priced me out of the housing market was a) extremely high demand in the areas of the city with decent livability and decent schools and b) the willingness of people to take on extremely risky loans to buy those houses. (Since I had this silly, old-fashioned idea that I would only buy a house I could afford with 20% down and a 30-year fixed, the initial monthly payments I was looking at were nearly twice that of the people doing 90/10 option ARMs.)
