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I did say "in major metros" - new construction in SF is about $440/sqft average vs a median listing price of almost $1000/sqft (average $964).

This is the highest in the world. [1, 2]

That's got nothing on San Mateo's $1264 average sale price and $160-350 per square foot in construction costs. [2]

Outside of major metros zoning rules make houses massive, twice as big as in the 70s. While the inflation-adjusted per square foot cost has remained roughly constant since the 70s, the much bigger size makes each house far less affordable.

It really is zoning.

[1] https://cbreemail.com/rv/ff019c9050e5e959ddee96391147a04f828...

[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1234783/average-sales-pr...



> new construction in SF is about $440/sqft average vs a median listing price of almost $1000/sqft (average $964).

Isn't much of the listing price related to land costs (and then of course profit)? To say that construction costs are only 50% of the sold to cost doesn't tell me much, how much did they pay for the land on a SQFT basis?




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