Burry, a resident of Saratoga, CA, says adding additional housing to the area will put residents in danger.
Famed investor Dr. Michael Burry is leading the charge against a California city's plans to build a new housing development in the hills surrounding Saratoga, CA, citing wildfire risk.
A new lawsuit spearheaded by Burry claims the planned Masson Estates development would be built in a high-risk fire hazard zone, and that further development in the area would put the community's already congested evacuation roads at risk of overloading with congestion in a disaster.
Burry made his name and his fortune from correctly predicting the 2008 housing collapse. His hedge fund Scion Capital netted around $800 million during the subprime mortgage crisis by purchasing credit default swaps, $100 million of which went directly to Burry. The 2015 movie "The Big Short" prominently features Burry as a character, played by Christian Bale.
Burry closed his hedge fund in 2025, and since then, he's taken the mantle at Citizens for Responsible and Equitable Development (CRED), a volunteer-run nonprofit that monitors local housing laws.
Last week, CRED filed a petition with the Superior Court of California urging local lawmakers to cancel Masson Estates, a planned development consisting of 20 market-rate and five affordable housing homes.
In July, the city's planning commission unanimously rejected the proposal, on the grounds that the development presented significant environmental risks.
A month later, however, the Saratoga City Council voted unanimously in favor of the project. However, one board member noted that "approving this project does not mean we dismiss the fire and evacuation concerns raised by our residents."
At the center of the dispute is Pierce Road, a narrow, winding, two-lane mountain route with steep grades and blind curves. The issue may be particularly personal for Burry. According to records reviewed by Realtor.com®, his six-bedroom, 6,300-square-foot home, which he purchased in 2004 for $3.7 million, sits near the base of Pierce Road.
Burry in the suit cites an evacuation study conducted in May 2027 by the consulting firm Fehr and Peers, which found that Pierce Road already fails to handle baseline evacuation demands.
The study found that residents would require five hours to evacuate the area during a fire, while a fast-moving blaze could consume the zone in just four hours—a potentially deadly scenario for residents.
The study also projected that adding Masson Estates would stretch evacuation times by an estimated 30 minutes—a 13% increase over baseline that transit and safety experts warn could leave fleeing motorists trapped.
"The delay directly increases the likelihood of vehicles becoming trapped on constrained corridors like Pierce Road, creating a critical life-safety hazard," noted traffic and evacuation experts KLD in their independent review of the project data.
CRED’s lawsuit asserts that the city's approval violates the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to adequately mitigate wildfire evacuation threats. Additionally, it argues the project violates the Subdivision Map Act, which mandates the denial of subdivisions likely to cause serious public health or safety problems.
A map shows the site of the proposed Masson Estates development in the foothills of Silicon Valley. Famed investor Dr. Michael Burry is leading the charge opposing the project, citing wildfire risk. (Realtor.com / Google Earth) In a Substack post on Thursday, Burry argued the Masson Estates project was only being built thanks to a "builder's remedy" loophole, which allows a developer to bypass local zoning rules if they promise to build at least 20% of their inventory as "affordable housing."
The Masson Estates had said that five of the 25 homes qualify as "affordable housing" based on local incomes. But in an area where the median family income exceeds $200,000, Burry argued, that term is somewhat meaningless.
"State law defines the [affordable] tier as 'lower-income households' which is up to 80% of area median income. The median family income in the San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara metro area is $205,500," he wrote.
Per Burry's calculations, in the context of wealthy Saratoga County, those "affordable" homes would likely be priced in the $3 million to $4 million range. Last month, the median listing price for homes in ZIP code 95070, which covers Saratoga, was $3.9 million, according to Realtor.com listing data.
Burry and his group are not the only ones protesting the planned development. The Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club issued an electronic petition in August, urging the local government to reverse its decision on the same grounds that Burry's group cites.
The Sierra Club petition also raises concerns about the number of trees that would need to be removed and the subsequent disruption to wildlife that would occur to accommodate the development.
A hearing on the lawsuit is set for January 2027. The city of Saratoga said that it could not comment on pending litigation. Realtor.com has also reached out to representatives of Masson Estates and lawyers for CRED for comment.