I've lived in this area for a long time, and through several bubbles, and this is nothing new. - The bay area has a handful of thriving industries creating a l

I've lived in this area for a long time, and through several bubbles, and this is nothing new. - The bay area has a handful of thriving industries creating a lot of wealth, in a country with a stagnant economy, so people come here for opportunity, our population is growing. - Existing property owners are resistant to change, and they're "locked in", price increases don't affect them. They don't want those new dense apartments or the new stores. Prop 13 really locks in housing costs, allowing these people to check out of the equation forever. The net result is rampant NIMBY-ism, and housing gets built at only the state mandated minimum of development. - Lower income people get priced out. Those in the first two groups I mentioned above don't see this as a problem, but this forces people to commute longer distances, leading to the horrible traffic problems. Housing and traffic go hand in hand. The commute makes the cost of hiring help of any sort more expensive, driving up prices. This is all a vicious cycle of selfishness, basically. It's nobody specific, just society overall. Everyone wants "theirs" and once they have it, they don't care about people who are still struggling. We should feel fortunate to live in such a thriving area, and accept that our neighbors may want to build apartments or shops. That's the price of living in economic prosperity. If you want the opposite, move to a rust belt state.