What you're saying makes sense. But it's kind of difficult to own a home when the cost of housing is so high and continuing to increase. From what I understand [1], there are laws that prevent high-rises (high-density residential buildings) from being built. With lots of people wanting to move there, simple supply-and-demand dictates that prices soar.

1: http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/01/san-francisco-can-become-a-...