[quote=FlyerInHi]
BTW, I don’t look at high end houses when comparing rent to mortgage. I look at 2/2 condos, townhouses. Like I said before, UTC/La Jolla, Mira Mesa are a good gauge because that’s where tech worker settle when they enter San Diego. Then after a couple years, they look to buy. I like to look at new construction prices for comparison.

My intuition says that if someone is paying $2,200 rent for a townhouse in UTC, they’d be willing to pay $3,500 to buy a much larger house at 4S, assuming they have the income, of course.[/quote]

Exactly…A house price is just a number and people are more interested in their monthly nut compared to what they have to pay in rent…

As I mentioned in another post, if your income is half decent and I assume anyone buying now MUST have decent income, that 3500 mortgage becomes about the same as the rental after the tax deduction so it’s easy for them to buy since the rent is the same and they’d rather live with more space, “better” schools, more “families” and “neighborhood”, etc…

In regards to these expensive (1 mil+) houses, as mentioned and what I’ve witnessed firsthand from many people known/met in my limited circle (asian/chinese mostly) has had family money help them buy. This is in Bay Area, LA, SD, etc…Talking about 1-1.5 mil places that their income would be impossible to support. Of course, not everyone has that help, but enough do based on the available inventory. Asians also “love” real estate and trust it more than, say stocks/bonds, etc…

I can count on my 1 hand how many people didn’t have help.

Oh, lastly, just from all the divergent view points even here, I will say again that the MID isn’t going away anytime soon…