Seeing that in the city where I live - a major metropolitan area with plenty of tech jobs - you can get a brand new 3000 foot house in the burbs, great school system for around $350K with an FHA loan and 3.5% down, a house is far from unaffordable for the average developer with 5-7 years of experience.
Representing $350k for a 3000 sq foot house as average is disingenuous. That simply isn't true in the places where the majority of tech jobs exist (major coastal metros).
In Seattle, 3000 sq ft homes go for a floor of about $750k, and that's in the extreme south end of town. In SF, try $1.5mil. $500k+ in the outer extremes of NYC. Average developers can't all move to whatever cheap metro you're describing; there simply aren't enough jobs there.
Do you think all the average west coast developers can move to Atlanta? No; there aren't the jobs. And if/when there are, housing prices rise correspondingly.
I'm glad ATL works well for you, but it isn't the average experience.
