California Housing Prices Keep Rising due to Low Inventories

According to a report released in July by the California Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes in California hit their highest pace in almost four years in June, despite extremely low inventories. The state’s median home price rose 0.9 percent to $555,150 from the previous month, and it was up 7 percent from $518,830 in June 2016. This coincides with the number of single-family home sales totaling 443,150 in June, which was up 3.3 percent from May and up 2.4 percent from a year earlier. CAR President Geoff McIntosh stated,

A lack of available homes for sale continues to be the largest single factor influencing California’s housing market. With active listings 13.5 percent lower than last June, we’ve now experienced a full two years in which active listings have fallen on a year-over-year basis and the lowest inventory level this year.

CAR reported that Los Angeles County saw its median price for an existing single-family home rise 11.4 percent in June to $548,220, which is a 9.2 percent increase from a year ago. San Bernardino County’s median-priced home was far smaller, at just 0.8 percent. Orange County’s median home price remained flat in June, but it was considerably higher than surrounding counties at $795,000. Overall, housing prices will continue to remain high until the demand for housing is met. Unfortunately, it appears that builders will not be catching up with the demand for more housing anytime soon due to the pace at which construction is being done.

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