I disagree with you about the foreign money issue though. I have not seen the stats though. But I can not imagine foreign cash makes up more than 5% of the real estate market (even 1% seems way to high). If we are soley in the realm of beachfront caliber property, then yes SDers have some serious competition. As you get one or two houses back (not blocks) I would bet that money drops off exponentially. By the time you get to Rancho Sante Fe, or Hillcrest we are no longer talking vacation homes and foreign cash.
This reminds me of the other erroneous idea which some people like to say. “Homes are so expensive because this is such a great place to live.”
People buy what they can with the job they have. The fact that even the nicer areas are so expensive has little to nothing to do with foreign money. It has everything to do with the fact the So. Californians are more willing to spend a larger percentage of their income on homes (kind of obvious I know). As to why this is…I blame the character/financial irresponsibility of the people…but that is just me.
