It's definitely One of the reasons. I've compared some real estate prices in some low-cost areas to relatively high-cost areas, and found that once factoring in property tax, the actual cost was close to the same.

I was comparing buying real estate in a high end part of Chicago with San Francisco.

The places cost the same per month. But in SF, almost all of that was going to the premium/interest.

In Chicago, a massive amount was going to taxes and HOAs.