I grew up in Dallas, went to school in Austin and worked in Houston so I am familiar with the cities you mention.
Texas is mostly flat so Texas cities can expand outward very easily. Just add another freeway circling the city and, presto, lots of new off-ramps for gas stations and strip malls and many square miles of land just waiting for new houses. This occurred several times during my childhood in Dallas.
San Diego is geographically constrained by the ocean and mountains as well as the Mexican border and Camp Pendleton. I think it was probably these constraints that forced urban planning to occur in San Diego – not Prop 13.
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In regards to Prop 13 keeping people planted in their houses, that is certainly true to some extent. I sold all of my investment real estate in San Diego but kept my personal residence, in part, because of Prop 13 and a 1998 tax basis.
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I have the perception that many people in San Diego buy real estate without including the cost of property taxes in their budget. They choose not to have taxes and insurance withheld in their mortgage payment (which they can barely afford) and then get shocked when the tax bill arrives in November.
Property tax of 1.1% on a $500K house is $5500/year or $458/month – ouch!
And the people that paid $800K – $1.4 mil for tract homes in North County? They are paying $8800/yr – $15,400/yr for the privilege of commuting in traffic hell on I-5 and I-15. That’s $733-1283/mo for just taxes and then, as you point out, they get to fork over $300-600/month for Mello-Roos. Some of them also have HOA fees to cover common areas of their development.
I’m ranting about North County tract homes so I’ll shut up now.
