It is also cheap because property tax acts as a lid on prices. If the price goes up in Texas the tax goes up accordingly, but the same is not true in California due to Prop 13. And Texas has some of the highest rates in the country.
CA tax increases are capped. So if you buy today and next year the value of your house goes up a LOT your increase is capped.
The other part that sucks is inheritances. Then the price is not re-evaluated. Now you have people sitting on a $2,000,000 house with a value of 200,000.
The inheritance trick is really limited now. The parent (or whoever is passing the house on) had to have been living there, and the inheritor has to move in and make it their primary residence.
