It's one of the most densely populated places in the US, (depending on how you count metropolitan areas). And, surprise surprise, it's more expensive than most other places in the US.
But hey...last I looked, real estate was pretty expensive in Tokyo, London and Paris too. Their governments must all be pretty evil with the oppressive zoning laws.
[I'm linking to this debunking of your population density claim for the benefit of joshu, who might not be reading all of this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6325649 ]
But hey...last I looked, real estate was pretty expensive in Tokyo, London and Paris too. Their governments must all be pretty evil with the oppressive zoning laws.