The delivery of homes listed for sale in California continued to increase last month, as the home sales activity in Golden State remained weak and wore below the low levels of the big recession.
The number of active lists in California exceeded 64,900 in April, after a pandemic peak and wins at the level of April 2020, according to the monthly report of trends in the housing accommodation of the team of Realtor.com®.
Inventory is increasing throughout the country, but profit is more pronounced in California, where the number of active lists has increased by 50% in April compared to a year earlier, compared to 31% national increase.
More sellers are entering the California market, with new ads being 9% in April compared to a year earlier, similar to national profit. But the largest engine of the boom of the state inventory is a long, historical slowdown in sales.
Since the middle of 2023, the total sales of single-family homes and apartments in California have been worn under the depths reached during the Great Recession in 2008 on a 12-month mobile base, according to the ATTOM real estate provider.
On a national scale, common home sales that include new and existing homes are also remarkably slow for several years – but the national annual sales rate remains above large recessions.
Sales of existing homes in California remained slow in March, fell by 2.3% from February to 277 030, on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, according to the California Association of Brokers.
“Housing sales were delayed in March as both buyers and sellers became more concerned about the current tariff situation and its potential impact on their personal finances,” said the President of the cars Heather OzurS
Accessibility is a key factor in the demand for buyers in California, with average home prices there more than eight times more than the typical annual home income, amidst the highest ratio in the country.
“Home prices growth accelerated in California during the first days of [COVID-19] A pandemic stimulating the average price of the state to new heights, “says Realtor.com Senior Analyst of Economic Research Hannah JonesS “High prices for housing and rising mortgage rates put the ownership of housing out of reach for many future buyers.”
Despite sales temperature, home prices in California remained remarkably hard. Last month, the average price of the country’s list was $ 767,000, almost unchanged a year ago, according to Realtor.com.
The shortage of supply has helped to raise the prices of housing in California, but as the inventory is increasing in the state, some experts in the housing market are now monitoring these prices to stagnate or even start to fall.
Last month, GerliFounder and CEO of App Startup for real estate data, told Realtor.com that he was watching the weakness of the markets that had observed the most large growth in the inventory.
“It is very realistic to expect that, based on more than 50% during the year, an increase in the inventory in some of these markets in California, we will see a great slowdown in housing prices over the next 12 months,” Gerli said.
“I would not be surprised if you are priced at the state, or even slightly negative by the end of the year, and more in particular in certain markets,” he added.
In addition, a recent ATTOM report called California as one of the most vulnerable areas for the downturn market, based on accessibility, underwater mortgages, foreclosures and unemployment.
The report has identified 14 counties in California as the country’s 50 most risky residential market.
However, Jones predicts that it will take an even larger pile of inventory before home prices begin to decrease significantly in California.
“While the inventory recovered somewhat, reaching its highest level in April last month, the sales options remain well below 2019,” she says. “Sales prices are likely to remain close to the last maximums, while stocks are not built enough to slow down the market, which can ultimately encourage sellers to adjust their price expectations.”