California’s real estate prices continued to grow, according to August numbers out from the California Association of Realtors, despite a slow down in overall sales.
According to CAR, August’s sales pace was down 3.3 percent from July and down 10.9 percent from a year ago. With an adjusted rate of 414,860 home sold, August’s sales level was the lowest in 14 months.
Slow sales did not damper rising prices, though. California’s median home price set a new record in August at $827,940—the fifth record set in six months. The August price was 2.1 percent higher than July and 17.1 percent higher than the $706,900 recorded in August 2020.
Median prices in all major regions continued to increase by double-digits but none set a new record high in August.
“The normalizing market and modestly improving housing inventory in the past few months have created an opportunity for homebuyers who sat out the highly competitive housing market seen over much of the past year,” said CAR President Dave Walsh. “With the highest level of active listings in nearly a year, interest rates expected to stay consistently low, and a dip in multiple offers, now is a good time for discouraged buyers to get back into the game.”
At the regional level, sales in three of the five major regions dipped from a year ago. The Far North region had the biggest year-over-year sales decline (-21.9 percent) in August (primarily due to the Dixie Fire, as four of the six counties in the region are in the fire zone). SoCal (-4.1 percent) and Central Valley (-2.0 percent) also experienced a sales drop from last year, but the declines were more moderate at the regional level.
Sales in some counties dropped more significantly in those regions, including Riverside (-13.6 percent), San Bernardino (-15.6 percent), Madera (-32.7 percent), and Placer (-13.5 percent).