"Regular people" in big populated urban areas can't expect to own a detached home, they can live in condos/apartments like they do in Asian cities, NYC and other densely populated cities.
The bay area isn't urban - we're talking about large stretches of suburbia. The area also isn't converting to urban despite the demand, which is part of what the article is talking about.
None of that exists in the bay. There's nothing in terms of affordable housing. That's the entire point of the article. No one can afford to live there except for highly paid engineers. A condo will run you 700k easily in any decent place.
