Article: Five Reasons California’s Housing Costs Are So High, With Charts and Graphs

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By Matt Levin / CALmatters       KPBS May 3, 2018

Why are California housing costs so high? At its most basic level, it’s a story of supply and demand — lots of people want to live here, and there aren’t enough homes to go around.

But there are lots of uniquely California factors — from the shape of our coastline to Prop 13 — that have attached a painfully expensive price tag to the California dream. The median price of a home is now well over half a million dollars — that number is about $240,000 nationally. More than 20% of Californians pay more than half their income for housing.

Here are five reasons the state’s housing market got so out of whack.


Related Reading – Click on the green highlight to view official documents and rep

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