KPCC: 5 reasons California’s housing costs are so high

Why are California housing costs so high? At its most basic level, it’s a story of supply and demand; lots of people want to live here, and there aren’t enough homes to go around. But there are lots of uniquely California factors–from the shape of our coastline to Prop 13 — that have attached a painfully expensive price tag to the California dream. The median price of a home is now well over half a million dollars — that number is about $240,000 nationally. More than 20% of Californians pay more than half their income for housing. Here are five reasons the state’s housing market got so out of whack.