[quote=threadkiller]…I also know someone that makes $90k has that much saved up in cash and cannot afford to buy a new SFH in San Diego…[/quote]
Since when is $90K annually and $90K in savings a guarantee of purchasing your “dream” property in SD County?? What are the monthly obligations of this $90K household and how many dependents do they have? $90K is about enough cash to put the minimum down on a max $400K purchase and having $10K left over for closing costs. It is assumed they will NOT need any cash reserves here, and they very well could be required to. In that case, it is enough cash for a $350K to $380K purchase.
This is clearly a middle income buyer and if the family is greater than 4 people, a mid-lower income family.
I guess what I’m getting at here is, why is does a potential first-time buyer with a middle or mid/lower income have an expectation of purchasing *new* SFR construction in SD County, with all its incipient developer costs and fees (passed onto a buyer)?
In previous decades and generations, first and even second-time buyers of all income levels did not have this expectation. They endeavored to buy property in close proximity to other relatives or as close to the coast as they could afford to. If the property needed work, they worked on it. There wasn’t a lot of agonizing and it didn’t take very long at all to find a suitable property.
Of course, there wasn’t all these new developments built in new far-flung zip codes to choose from, as there are today :=0
