Look at the data visualization above to see California’s home pricing in July hit its seventh record high in 27 months, according to one key market benchmark.
The California Association of Realtors’ median selling price in closed deals for an existing single-family home was a record $666,320 last month. That’s up 6.4% from the former peak of $626,170 in June and it’s a 9.6% increase in a year. Home pricing, boosted by low mortgage rates and a limited inventory for house hunters, has been firm this year despite a pandemic that otherwise throttled the state economy.
Record pricing was a rarity after May 2007’s $594,530 median peak. That month proved to be the record for 11 years as the state’s housing market, no less the entire economy, soon collapsed into the Great Recession. Prices were halved at one point during that downturn.
But in May 2018 a new high of $600,860 was reached, followed by new records set six more times since.
July’s report from the Realtors noted that sales of California single-family homes ran at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 437,890, up 29% from June and up 6.4% in a year. Year-to-date, statewide home sales are still off 10% from 2019’s homebuying pace.
