In most coastal states, it's difficult to do greenfield development in high-income cities because of some combination of laws preserving open space (e.g. California) and because greenfields have basically been developed to the limit of sane commuting distance (e.g. NY/DC). Moreover, with the interstate system built to completion, there are no new public works projects brining new greenfields within commuting distance of major metros, as had happened with the implementation of horsecars, streetcars, interurbans, commuter railroads, and interstate highways. Many areas have seen brownfield development, but such land is relatively limited and expensive to remediate.
At the same time, zoning laws make it difficult-to-impossible to build denser housing (even low- or mid-rise apartment buildings) to replace single-family homes on valuable land at any kind of scale.
This means the population of most of the most-productive American metros has become essentially fixed, or stuck growing at a lower level than American population growth. Instead those with the most money are bidding up the limited population supply, and those with less money <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/06/13/243972/the-secr... moving to Texas and other places where it's easy to build homes</a>.
And Silicon Valley (and the Bay Area in general), <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/03/silicon_valle... than building more housing during boomtimes</a>, is simply letting its housing prices increase to insane levels. Prop. 13, which insulates current homeowners from even having to pay higher property taxes on their ridiculously valuable homes, certainly doesn't help things.
At the same time, zoning laws make it difficult-to-impossible to build denser housing (even low- or mid-rise apartment buildings) to replace single-family homes on valuable land at any kind of scale.
This means the population of most of the most-productive American metros has become essentially fixed, or stuck growing at a lower level than American population growth. Instead those with the most money are bidding up the limited population supply, and those with less money <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/06/13/243972/the-secr... moving to Texas and other places where it's easy to build homes</a>.
And Silicon Valley (and the Bay Area in general), <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/03/silicon_valle... than building more housing during boomtimes</a>, is simply letting its housing prices increase to insane levels. Prop. 13, which insulates current homeowners from even having to pay higher property taxes on their ridiculously valuable homes, certainly doesn't help things.