California Home Prices near 10 year high!

The Golden State’s median home price climbed to a height not seen since the previous housing boom in April and is likely to keep rising, further squeezing already tight affordability conditions for the rest of the year. The California Association of Realtors’ latest home sales and price report puts the statewide median single-family home price at $536,750 in April, up 5.4 percent year over year and the highest since August 2007. All major regions of the state saw appreciation from the previous April.

In a statement accompanying the report, CAR Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young said that she expects annual home price gains to continue in 2017, worsening affordability and stifling sales activity. After a strong first quarter, California home sales dipped on both a monthly and yearly basis in April, which was expected given that pending home sales have been slowing for several months.  California’s housing-supply woes are not improving, as active listings decreased by 10.5 percent year over year, the 22^nd consecutive month of declines. The state’s Unsold Inventory Index, which calculates the number of months it would take to sell all the homes on the market, was 3.3 in April, up from March but down from one year earlier.