California's Real Estate Market Is as Bad as It Gets

California has created a highly restrictive system where increasing the supply of housing units is extremely difficult, expensive and time-consuming. Laws and regulations in the name of preserving open space have the effect of drastically reducing the supply of land for building. California's state-building code is also especially restrictive and deserves scrutiny from policymakers concerned about housing affordability. All of the places with most severe affordability problems are correlated with the most restrictive housing policies.