It was the Economy Stupid. During the recession, many pundits pronounced the exurbs dead and likely to become ghost towns filled with obsolete McMansions.   Everyone was downsizing and moving back to the City center.  Not so fast.  In one of the first economies to boom since the recession, housing in the San Francisco Bay Area exurbs are making a comeback driven by commuters looking again for affordable single family homes.  Read this article below:

Homebuilders and buyers rush back in to Bay Area’s exurbs – San Francisco Business Times.