Average San Diego home price is $1M

[Dan H.]

Greater association of realtors states average San Diego home price is $1M.  This is an astonishing number when the median family income is $85K.  

San Diego home prices have seemed high for at least 40 years, but $1M average price just makes the "sunshine tax" very apparent.

I recognize it is not cheap to live in an area that has the climate of San Diego, but society needs service people.  Everyone needs a place to live.  It is a difficult issue.  

[Jim Paulson]

Boise, Idaho has had many articles published in the past six months as being the "most expensive place to live in America".  However, they totally forget the $1 million average price there in San Diego and other areas.  Our average price is about $550k.  

[Dave Skow]

@Dan H.- great points  and  echoed  in the PNW ..espeically the  Seattle / Bellevue  area...not only is the comment about service people needing affordable  housing on target  but  taking the  thought one step further - this is  why  our  region in particular  has a  very high homeless  problem ...there is  simply  nowhere  affordable to  rent / live  anywhere  close to the  city anymore ......10-15- 20+ yrs  ago -there  were  still many  lower  income type  apartment/ home  options ...not anymore 

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Dave Skow:

this is  why  our  region in particular  has a  very high homeless  problem ...there is  simply  nowhere  affordable to  rent / live  anywhere  close to the  city anymore 

So what you're saying is that simply because people can't afford to rent near downtown, they just go homeless?

[Dan H.]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Dave Skow:

this is  why  our  region in particular  has a  very high homeless  problem ...there is  simply  nowhere  affordable to  rent / live  anywhere  close to the  city anymore 

So what you're saying is that simply because people can't afford to rent near downtown, they just go homeless?

 Many of the homeless cannot hold down a job whether drugs or mental.  Homeless is a tough problem.  I view it as a slightly different problem than providing housing for service workers (people who have jobs and can hold down regular employment).

The lower paid people can increase occupancy, live in class C or below areas, etc. but these are challenges of housing the lower income people (many who work very hard).  

Living is an area as desirable as San Diego should not be cheap.  You buy a fine wine and it cost you.   On the other hand, we need service workers.  providing housing for lower income working people is a tough problem (but I view it as a different problem than addressing the homeless problem which mostly cannot work and need things like rehab, counseling, etc. and may never be able to hold a regular job).

I do not believe the answer is for the government to try to regulate free trade (i.e. items like rent control or providing housing for a few lucky disadvantaged that leave the majority of the disadvantaged no better off).  I am not indicating I have a solution but I am confident that neither of those solutions will solve the problem.

[Bruce Woodruff]

I agree, @Dan H. you are spot-on. San Diego is one of the best cities in the world and to live there should cost a small fortune. Period. The service workers can take the trolley out to El Cajon or Spring Valley. OR get together a large group and rent a house in PB....it doesn't matter.

And you're right that homeless people and people who cannot find a home are 2 different groups. When we lived in SD, one of my wife's friends worked for the County with the Homeless Task Force. Year after year, study after study showed that (IIRC) 93+% of them would not even accept FREE housing unless they could keep their drugs/alcohol/up all night/free sex lifestyles.

I have no answer for them either, but the answer for lower income folks who want a basic roof over their heads is much easier.

[Jason Bohling]

Quote from @Jim Paulson:

Boise, Idaho has had many articles published in the past six months as being the "most expensive place to live in America".  However, they totally forget the $1 million average price there in San Diego and other areas.  Our average price is about $550k.  

 They were talking about this on the 10 o'clock news the other night.  If I remember right, they said that what made it the most expensive place was the large gap between typical wages and home prices, as the typical wage earner would have to go roughly 4 hours away from Boise to find something they could afford by typical debt to income standards.  Of course, I could've totally heard wrong, which is not out of the realm of possibility...

[Jim Paulson]

Jason, I believe you heard correctly, I do believe they spoke incorrectly however. Being expensive is not synonymous with affordable. There are programs out there that help the low/moderate income earners buy a home using down payment assistance, tax credits, and sometimes below market interest rates. I have even used a clients Section 8 housing voucher to use toward their mortgage payment in the past. Admittingly, when the average house payment is more than the average homeowner can buy, you have to get creative. Buy a fourplex and rent three units to offset your payment, or get a co-borrower instead of just a roommate, etc. I just sold a home to my middle son who works in McCall and they have their roommate on their mortgage with them since that area is even more expensive than Boise! I did coin a new term lately, "Drive till you qualify". One of the major problems for entry level buyers is that builders are no longer building smaller homes. So far this year, there have only been 26 brand new homes built listed the MLS that were under 1,000 sq. ft.! When ever a project is proposed with higher density and smaller homes, the neighbors all complain with same old stanza "not in my backyard".