Latest news with #CaliforniaAssociationofRealtors
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
California Home Sales Hover Below Great Recession Low, Sending Supply of Listings Surging
The supply of homes listed for sale in California continued to surge last month, as home sales activity in the Golden State remained weak and hovered below the lows of the Great Recession. The number of active listings in California topped 64,900 in April, a post-pandemic high and beating the April 2020 level, according to the economic research team's monthly housing trends report. Inventory has been rising across the country, but the gain is more pronounced in California, where the number of active listings was up 50% in April from a year earlier, compared to a 31% rise nationally. More sellers are entering the market in California, with new listings up 9% in April from a year earlier, similar to the national gain. But the biggest driver of the state's inventory boom is a prolonged, historic slowdown in sales. Since mid-2023, total sales of single-family homes and condos in California have hovered below the depths reached during the Great Recession in 2008 on a 12-month rolling total basis, according to real estate data provider ATTOM. Nationally, total home sales, which include new and existing homes, have also been remarkably sluggish for several years—but the national annual sales pace has remained above Great Recession lows. Sales of existing homes in California remained sluggish in March, falling 2.3% from February, to 277,030, on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, according to the California Association of Realtors. 'Home sales slowed in March as both buyers and sellers grew more concerned about the ongoing tariff situation and its potential impact on their personal finances,' said CAR President Heather Ozur. Affordability has been a key factor weighing on buyer demand in California, with median home prices there more than eight times the typical household's annual income, among the highest ratio in the country. 'Home price growth accelerated in California during the early days of the [COVID-19] pandemic, driving the state's median listing price to new heights,' says senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. 'High home prices and rising mortgage rates put homeownership out of reach for many would-be buyers.' Despite the tepid pace of sales, home prices in California have remained remarkably firm. Last month, the median list price in the state was $767,000, virtually unchanged from a year ago, according to data. A supply shortage has helped prop up home prices in California, but as inventory surges in the state, some housing market experts are now watching for those prices to stagnate or even begin to fall. Last month, Nick Gerli, founder and CEO of real estate data startup Reventure App, told that he is monitoring for weakness in markets that have seen the biggest growth in inventory. 'It's very realistic to expect that, based on the more than 50% year-over-year inventory increase in some of these California markets, we're going to see a big slowing in home price growth over the next 12 months,' Gerli said. 'I wouldn't be surprised if prices trend flat across the state or even slightly negative by the end of the year, and particularly in certain markets,' he added. As well, a recent report from ATTOM named California as one of the most vulnerable areas for housing market declines, based on gaps in affordability, underwater mortgages, foreclosures, and unemployment. The report identified 14 California counties as being among the 50 most at-risk in the nation for a housing market downturn. However, Jones predicts that it will take an even bigger pileup of inventory before home prices begin to decline significantly in California. 'While inventory has recovered somewhat, reaching its highest April level in years last month, for-sale options remain well below 2019 levels,' she says. 'Sale prices are likely to stay near recent highs until inventory builds sufficiently to slow the market, which could eventually prompt sellers to adjust their price expectations.' Related Articles
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ventura County home prices flat in March, but sales volume up
The price of a home in Ventura County stayed about flat over the past year, while the number of sales climbed dramatically, a positive sign for a real estate market that has been characterized for years by high prices and sluggish sales activity. The median price of all existing single-family homes sold in Ventura County in March was $940,000, according to the latest data released by the California Association of Realtors. The median is the point at which half of the homes sold for more and half for less. March's median price was 2.4% higher than a year earlier, which is about the same as the rate of inflation over that period. Prices were down 3% from the previous month. There were 297 sales of single-family homes in March, a 24% increase in a year and a 35% increase from the previous month. Because the real estate business is seasonal, with more sales and higher prices in the summer than the winter, year-to-year comparisons are the standard. Still, the 35% month-to-month increase was the biggest gain in sales volume in two years. Sales volume in Ventura County has trended downward for most of the past four years as rising mortgage interest rates have discouraged both sellers and buyers. The most expensive homes in Ventura County in March were in Ojai, which had a median sale price of $1.44 million. Oxnard had the lowest median price at $755,000. Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@ This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism. This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County home prices flat in March, but sales volume up
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
January sales show Ventura County home prices continue to climb but slowly
The price of homes in Ventura County has flattened out a bit, but the median sale price in January was still higher than in any previous January. There were 207 single-family homes sold in Ventura County in January, and the median price — the point at which half sold for more and half for less — was $875,000, according to the latest data from the California Association of Realtors. That was down 2.2% from the previous month, and 0.6% from January 2024. Statewide, the median price in January for existing single-family homes was $838,850, down 2.6% from the previous month and up 6.3% from a year earlier. Ojai had the highest median sale price in the county in January at $1.38 million followed by Thousand Oaks at $1.3 million. The lowest prices were in Fillmore at $735,000 and Santa Paula at $745,000. Home prices in Ventura County, and most of California, have leveled off in the past couple of years after a period of extraordinary gains. From January 2019 to January 2022, the median price in Ventura County grew by 38%. Then in the next three years, from January 2022 to January 2025, the median price went up by just 2.9%. Still, Ventura County remains one of the least affordable places in the United States for homebuyers. The National Association of Realtors affordability index, which factors in both home prices and wages, puts Ventura County second from the bottom in affordability, ahead of only Los Angeles. Economists and other experts usually attribute Ventura County's high home prices to a shortage of housing supply. The California Lutheran University's Center for Economic Research and Forecasting released its annual report on the Ventura County economy on Feb. 20, in which it described a lack of housing as the biggest reason for the county's sluggish economic growth and shrinking labor force. Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@ This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism. This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: January sales show county home prices continue to climb but slowly
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
California's $1 Billion Insurer Bailout Deepens Housing Strains
(Bloomberg) -- California's housing market is already one of the most expensive in the country. A San Francisco condo can cost as much as a four-bedroom house in Texas and families drive hours inland just to find a starter home. Why American Mobility Ground to a Halt Saudi Arabia's Neom Signs $5 Billion Deal for AI Data Center SpaceX Bid to Turn Texas Starbase Into City Is Set for Vote in May Cutting Arena Subsidies Can Help Cover Tax Cuts, Think Tank Says How to Build a Neurodiverse City Now, the Los Angeles wildfires are likely to add another financial burden to households across the state. A $1 billion assessment announced Tuesday for California's FAIR Plan, the state-mandated insurer of last resort, is expected to drive up premiums as companies will likely pass some of the costs onto homeowners. The charge, meant to help cover wildfire losses, underscores a broader crisis in California's housing market, in which rising risks from natural disasters, dwindling insurance options and intractable shortages are colliding to make homeownership even more expensive. Higher insurance rates are 'going to make the affordability challenges we already have, owing to chronic undersupply, even more challenging,' said Jordan Levine, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. The FAIR Plan assessment comes after the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed at least 11,000 homes last month, causing as much as an estimated $75 billion in insured losses. Under new state regulations, insurers must cover half of the FAIR Plan's initial $1 billion shortfall. Beyond that, they can shift all additional wildfire-related costs onto policyholders. Private insurers have already been factoring the assessment into their projected wildfire losses. State Farm, California's largest home insurer, has requested an emergency 22% rate increase to take effect May 1, which the regulator is now reviewing. Well before the latest blazes, California's housing market was under immense pressure, with an estimated shortage of 2.5 million units. Until now, scarcity has been a bigger driver of rising home prices than insurance costs, said Dave Jones, a former state insurance commissioner. 'Even though we've been seeing for the past five years tremendous increases in insurance prices and less availability of private insurance, that's not really having an impact on prices,' he said in an interview. 'Because the supply of homes in California is 2.5 million short that's a bigger determinant of price and is driving prices higher.' Single-family home prices in the state climbed 5% last year to a median of $861,000 — more than double the US level — with only 15% of households able to afford to buy a median-priced home, according to the California Association of Realtors. In Los Angeles County, where the median home price exceeds $900,000, that figure was just 11%. Mortgage payments in California now average $5,550 a month, including taxes and insurance, pricing out vast swaths of middle-class buyers. Insurance alone accounts for a relatively small fraction of that cost, at about $65 a month, according to Levine's estimates. The new assessment is expected to add at least $60 a household for the 8 million-plus owners with fire insurance. Future price hikes will depend on how insurers adjust to new financial strains and how they price in evolving wildfire risks. 'The assessment will likely lead to increased premiums or reduced coverage availability in the private market as insurers adjust to offset their increased liabilities from FAIR Plan contributions,' Fitch Ratings reported last month. The insurance costs won't be evenly distributed, adding another layer of inequity to a market already defined by its extremes, said Levine. The biggest strain may be felt by homeowners in fire-threatened areas, where private insurers have already begun retreating, leaving more homeowners reliant on the FAIR Plan. Over the past four years, the number of residential and commercial policies under FAIR has more than doubled to 450,000. But even in lower-risk areas, homeowners may be affected since private insurers operating all across California must contribute to the program's shortfalls. 'Low-income communities would essentially subsidize FAIR Plan coverage in high-fire risk areas, including vacation homes,' a state Assembly committee warned in 2023. 'Assessments, in the near and long term, could lead traditional insurers to further withdraw from the California market, which would mean even fewer voluntary market insurance options for customers, a higher concentration of risk covered by the FAIR Plan, and an acceleration of the looming insurance unavailability crisis for many Californians regardless of where they reside.' California established the FAIR Plan in 1968 as an alternative to commercial plans. Unlike private home insurers, who can turn customers down, the state-mandated program must take anyone who, through no fault of their own, can't obtain insurance otherwise. Every property insurer licensed in the state automatically becomes a member as a condition of doing business and is required to contribute to the FAIR plan based on its market share. By law, they may be called on to fund its continued operations in case of an extreme catastrophe. Insurance rates increased across Southern California after the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which burned 97,000 acres and destroyed 1,643 structures in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, prompting major insurers like Chubb and American International Group Inc. to drop coverage in fire-prone areas. Many owners of multimillion-dollar homes now piece together multiple policies to exceed the FAIR Plan's $3 million cap for rebuilding costs, lost possessions and temporary housing, said Beverly Hills real estate agent Tomer Fridman. Some are ditching single-family homes for condos, where fire insurance can fall under homeowners' associations. 'It's a big sticking point for all sellers and buyers,' Fridman said. 'It's affecting decisions.' Consumer Watchdog, an insurance industry monitoring group, has accused private insurers of offloading high-risk properties onto the FAIR Plan while selectively covering homes that are deemed less risky. 'Homeowners across California should not have to pay a penalty to repair the damage from home insurance companies' predatory behavior,' Carmen Balber, Consumer Watchdog executive director, said in a statement. California's leaders, including Governor Gavin Newsom, acknowledge the challenge of keeping private insurers in the state while ensuring coverage is affordable. They point to the state's relatively low insurance rates compared with Texas and Florida. Ricardo Lara, the insurance commissioner, recently pushed through a plan giving insurers more scope to increase rates in exchange for broadening coverage in wildfire zones, as part of an effort to stabilize the market. 'Thirty years of stagnant regulations have placed more people at risk,' Lara said in a statement on Tuesday. 'We will move people away from the FAIR Plan, and insurance companies will write more policies under the Sustainable Insurance Strategy I finalized last year.' --With assistance from Michelle Ma. 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