[quote=asianautica][quote=EconProf]Texas is flat, no ocean, mountains, or TJ next door to inhibit building. Plus a low-tax, developer-friendly government. Throwing up houses is easy and cheap, dependent on labor costs and materials, which didn’t much go up.
With no bubble to pop, their house prices aren’t falling much, and are even rising in some areas. Having oil, natural gas, and ag. also helps. [/quote]
I don’t think flat, no ocean, mountains, or TJ will contribute to TX price vs SD price. Just look at areas like Fresno, Bakersfield, etc. They all are flat, no ocean, mountains, or TJ, yet price went through the roof. I think the biggest factor is the high property tax and developer-friendly government that’s the culprit. People wouldn’t want a higher price house because they know that next year, their property tax will be that much higher. Also, like you said, the developer-friendly government does make it a lot cheaper for builders to build. I don’t buy the argument of SD running out of land either. We have plenty of land to east that are undeveloped. We’re almost as big in term of land as LA, yet we haven’t even touch the eastern area of the county like LA has.[/quote]

The whole story isnt evident in places like Fresno, or Bakersfield just by saying it is flat, hot and no ocean. Those places boomed becuase of the unaffordable prices in SF or LA. People were willing to commute 90 minutes or more, each way, to own their houses. Those cities bubbled because of coastal unaffordability, which is in part due to mountains and oceans restricting building space.