SAN DIEGO—Micromanaging development down to your neighbor's fence color is seen as a right and a duty by residents who feel they are stewards of making their neighborhoods great, Norm Miller, PhD, Ernest W. Hahn Chair of Real Estate Finance in the School of Business Administration's Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego, tells GlobeSt.com. Miller, who is scheduled as the keynote speaker for Burnham-Moores' 15th Annual Residential Real Estate Conference: Outlook 2016 on Dec. 10, recently authored an article about California's NIMBY culture. We spoke with him exclusively about this phenomenon in the San Diego market in particular.

GlobeSt.com: Why does it seem as though San Diego has a stronger NIMBY sentiment than other parts of California?

Miller: The more desirable a place is to live, the more difficult it will make it for developers to add new supply. If you want to develop in Buffalo or Detroit, you will be welcomed with open arms. San Diego is one of the best places on earth to live, so as the world becomes more global we will continue to see San Diego real estate, especially along the coast, continue to be in stronger and stronger demand. This alone allows San Diegans to become "NIMBYs" and yet still see some development.