The Californians, after years of having higher salary, more savings, and a job that lets them move, goes to Texas and offers $400k for that same house. The Californian thinks it's a great deal, because they get the same size house they previously lived in for only half the price! And the seller thinks it's great, because he now suddenly gets a huge premium on his previously-valued-at-$250k-house. All of the real estate responds in kind, expecting to get $400k+ from all the Cali transplants. However, the average Texan, who doesn't have that high paying salary, gets priced out and can no longer afford a house in their city.
This has been happening en masse to the northern suburbs of Dallas, as well as many neighborhoods in Austin. It's gentrification, more or less, and it comes with all the same problems.
The caller was indignant: "It would be un-American not to try to get the highest possible price for your property"
The defense rests.
I see a similar defective thought process right here in Berkeley, CA. Everyone here blames housing demand on peninsula companies like Facebook, Apple, and Google but it's a fact that employment right here in the city of Berkeley has been allowed to double in the last 30 years while the city built zero net dwellings. We can try to blame it on distant villains but the gentrification, to borrow a meme, is coming from inside the house.
That makes no sense. If the housing prices in a market go up, it is because there is more demand without an increase in supply. Not because a certain group is paying almost double the market value for absolutely no reason.
And then there's the issue of property taxes. A Texan lives in his nice $250k house and pays $X/year in property taxes. Then someone comes in and buys the house next to them for $400k/yr. Suddenly this neighborhood is now appraised at a much higher value than before, and the Texan's property taxes are now twice as high, bordering on the edge of unaffordable. I've personally seen several people be priced out of an area due to this.
Nobody pays more for something just because they have more savings. They pay more because they might be getting outbid by someone.
I don't see the purpose of characterizing that as "California exporting higher costs of living".
People with more money outbid people with less money all over the world all the time. You can say "Americans are exporting higher cost of living" by purchasing avocados from Mexico, or factory capacity in China, etc. and depriving the locals who can't afford to pay the same.
I'm sure the people in the poorer neighborhoods of Dallas and Austin are complaining about the richer neighborhoods exporting a higher cost of living.
No, they pay more because they can afford it. When a bidding war starts between a Californian and a Texan for the same house, the Texan loses every time because they can't bid as high as the Californian.
It isn't just housing, either. When a new grocery store opens up in one of these neighborhoods, do you think they just sell their goods as cheap as they always have? Of course not. They want to make a profit, so they up their prices because they know the Californians are more than willing to pay for it. The Texan who now struggles to make ends meet because food is more expensive? They get pushed out.
> You can say "Americans are exporting higher cost of living" by purchasing avocados from Mexico, or factory capacity in China, etc. and depriving the locals who can't afford to pay the same.
Yes, that is exactly what is happening. Have you ever been to any of these countries where Americans-with-money swoop in and starting buying up goods or property? They hate it, just as much as Texans hate the Californians who are moving in.
