CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (C.A.R) has officially published the results from a new report, which reveals that median home price reached an all-time high and breached $900,000 for the first time in 10 months, but having said so, California’s housing market went down for the second straight month.
Going by the available details, closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 267,710 during the month of April. More on the same would reveal how April’s sales pace fell by 3.4 percent from the 277,030 homes sold in March.
More on the same would reveal the fact that, despite sales slightly exceeding last year’s level for the first four months this year, the number of homes sold has settled below the 300,000 benchmark for last 31 months.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in a particular piece of data, which claims that statewide pending sales in April slipped from last year’s level for the fifth consecutive month as housing sentiment continued to trend downwards. The dip in open escrows is being viewed as a byproduct of mortgage rates spiking and staying elevated throughout the month of April after President Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement.
“Home prices continued to rise last month,” said Jordan Levine, C.A.R. Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Despite reaching a new record, prices are moderating as the latest yearly growth pace slowed to its lowest since mid-2023. Ongoing economic uncertainty has slightly dampened demand, while a steady increase in inventory has contributed to more moderate price growth this year.”
Moving on, unseasonally adjusted home sales in three of the five major regions across California increased from a year ago.
From that lot, Central Coast region recorded the biggest increase from last year with a 10.5 percent jump in sales, as three of its four counties recorded year-over-year sales gains in closed escrows. Beyond that, Central Valley (3.4 percent) and Southern California (1.6 percent) also experienced an uptick in properties sold when compared to a year ago, whereas on the other hand, Far North region (-2.8 percent) and the San Francisco Bay Area (-1.4 percent) emerged as the only two regions that posted year-over-year declines.
Next up, a total of 33 from the 53 counties, tracked by C.A.R., recorded sales increases from a year ago, with more than half (17) of them surging by over 10 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Here, Mono (133.3 percent) would go on to see the sharpest sales increase from last year, followed by Trinity (100 percent), and San Benito (34.4 percent). On the flipside, home sales declined from last year in 19 counties. In fact, 10 of them fell by more than 10 percent. Mariposa (-59.1 percent) markedly had the biggest drop in April, followed by Siskiyou (-37 percent) and Napa (-27.4 percent).
If we talk on a more regional level, four of the five major regions in California recorded an increase in their median price from a year ago, but at the same time, these increases were mostly mild.
You see, the Far North region got to see the largest price growth of all regions, bearing a moderate 4.3 percent gain from a year ago. Seven of its counties recorded year-over-year gains, and sales in four of them surged from last year by double-digits.
Looking past that, Central Coast (1.2 percent) secured the second place on this list, followed by Southern California (0.8 percent), and the Central Valley (0.3 percent). Against this, the San Francisco Bay Area (-1.7 percent) was the only region to have recorded a price decline from its year-ago level, as more than half of its counties registered price shrinkages.
Among other things, we ought to mention how home prices increased on a year-over-year basis in many California counties. We get to say so because April’s median sales prices rose from their year-ago levels in 27 of the 53 counties.
From an individual standpoint, Trinity (57 percent) experienced the biggest price jump in all counties last month, while prices in Plumas (54.7 percent) and Lassen (48.8 percent) also surged from their year-ago levels by more than 45 percent.
