The supply of available homes is shrinking across California, as prices surge and the affordability crisis deepens as a statewide concern.
In August, the median price of a single-family home rose 7.2 percent year-over-year to $565,330 in California, its highest level in a decade. That’s according to the latest report from the California Association of Realtors.
Naturally, the Bay Area gets special mention: Region-wide, prices rose 10.2 percent year-over-year across the nine counties to $856,200.
In Santa Clara County, the median price of a single-family home jumped a daunting 17.9 percent year-over-year to $1,150,000. Yet the region’s prices were highest in San Francisco, where the median — $1,380,000 — was up 9.7 percent year-over-year. Right behind was San Mateo County, where the median rose 10 percent to $1,375,000. Alameda County’s median price of $867,500 was up 11.9 percent, while Contra Costa County’s median of $627,860 was 10.2 percent higher than a year earlier.
The story behind the price increases, of course, is the lack of inventory. Statewide, active listings fell 11.9 percent from the year before. Every county in the Bay Area and Southern California experienced a drop in unsold inventory, as did most of the Central Coast and Central Valley, the report said.