I would personally like to live in the shoreline and would consider that if I had $1.5-$2mill to throw around. Nevertheless, I would guess a reason why folks would buy a tract home in say CV for this much is probably because a mixture of pseudo-luxury and pseudo-convenience. People probably want to be closer to work and probably want to live where a school district is acceptable (yes, private schools are an option), and probably where it's convenient to everything else, but not so convenient that your local walmart costco is right next door. Custom homes in CV would be $2m+, and a lot of them aren't the most convenient access. It's not one particular thing people like, it's the entire "hybrid" package.
It's sort of like the BMW M5 . People want a performance car with certain luxury and that can tracked at an occasional auto-cross or 2, and still fit the kiddies in the back seat for a grocery run. Although I would say many who buy these never tracked their cars to warrant the purchase beyond bragging rights.
