(Bloomberg)—The pandemic is burnishing California’s reputation for costly housing.
In the latest sign, home prices in the state shot past $800,000 for the first time in April, according to data released Monday by the California Association of Realtors. The new median value of $813,980 is up 7.2% from March and 34% from a year earlier, when pandemic lockdowns mostly froze the housing market.
Fresh Record
The surge is, in many ways, a snapshot of what’s happening across the U.S., where tight inventory and low mortgage rates are fueling a rally in home prices. Last week, the National Association of Realtors reported that the median sale price for a single-family home rose to a record $319,200.
The gains are especially remarkable in California, which continues to see large increases, despite fears that soaring housing costs and the rise of remote work are driving people out of the state.
“Not only do skyrocketing home prices threaten already-low homeownership levels and make it harder for those who don’t already have a home to purchase one, it also brings to question the sustainability of this market cycle,” Jordan Levine, chief economist at the California Association of Realtors, said in a statement.
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