Why is San Francisco/Northern CA housing prices higher than LA/OC? (Modesto: houses, public school)

[Kevroqs]

The Bay Area and LA/OC are both expensive places to live. You can make 100k in those places, be considered low income and live in poverty.

[Bayarea4]

L. A. is covers more area and is more spread out, so there's room for development. San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides with no room for expansion except vertically, hence all the high rises downtown.

[mysticaltyger]

For anyone who's been paying attention, high prices in the Bay Area are essentially the result of 40 years of policies that disincentivize the building of new housing. This is true throughout California but most acute in the Bay area.

A simple Google search yielded this article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2...ousing-crisis/

The Bay Area saw 5.4 new jobs for every unit of housing it built between 2011 and 2017.

[mrxalleycat]

Originally Posted by Bayarea4

L. A. is covers more area and is more spread out, so there's room for development. San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides with no room for expansion except vertically, hence all the high rises downtown.

That definitely explains it.

It makes sense. I’m looking at the map and LA had more land east outwards and northwards as SF is stuck and trapped , circled by the ocean harbor.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by mrxalleycat

That definitely explains it.

It makes sense. I’m looking at the map and LA had more land east outwards and northwards as SF is stuck and trapped , circled by the ocean harbor.

L.A. has lower overall incomes, so housing costs as a multiple of income, so by that measure, they're about the same as what they are in the Bay Area.

[amokk]

Originally Posted by Kevroqs

The Bay Area and LA/OC are both expensive places to live. You can make 100k in those places, be considered low income and live in poverty.

Good job being hyperbolic. Why would anyone take you seriously?

[C24L]

Originally Posted by mrxalleycat

Why is San Francisco/Northern CA housing prices higher than LA/OC?

I check the real estate prices and compare them. They are at least 30% higher.

San Francisco/Silicon Valley is really expensive! More expensive!

supply and demand due to the high tech industry i would say.

[citizensadvocate]

Interesting I was curious at the recovery of home prices in different areas of the state. It appears most of major SoCal areas as well as the Bay Area has exceeded its peak in the 2000s during the late 2010s but NorCal's central Valley is barely just reaching its peak, I.e I remember how An Elk Grove home reached $530,000 in 2007 but in its peak in 2018 price is $510,000 for the same exact home based on Zillow estimates I am curious about its algorithm in the estimating housing prices.
If prices went up the same percentage as other parts of the state the same house should be costing $670,000 by 2018.
As a house if similar size in LA or Bay Area were $930,000 in 2007 but its likely $1,100,000 by 2018.

I am curious though how much housing prices gone up since 1990 compared to inflation? If a house back in 1994 costed $260,000 but now costs about $780,000 today how much did the new price exceed that of inflation or value of items in general?

[Davecali]

Supply and Demand. There are also strict building limits on Bay Area development coupled with a booming economy across many job sectors driving up rents and prices. Southern California is also relatively expensive, or the same as here in many places, but there is also more choice in lower housing prices a broader range of prices, whereas in the Bay virtually everything is higher.

[mrxalleycat]

Land is finite in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley as it's territories are surrounded by the ocean. This is causing prices to pressure up.

Los Angeles/OC home prices are at least 30% cheaper than SF/SV because land can be expanded eastwards, northwards, and to the south.