“How expensive?” tracks measurements of California’s totally unaffordable housing market.
The pain: Southern California house hunters are facing two of the nation’s largest home-price increases.
The source: My trusty spreadsheet reviewed April’s home price indexes from First American Data & Analytics, which tracks 30 major US markets, including four in Southern California. The data also offers some intriguing insights into what’s boosting prices.
The pinch
Orange County’s home prices rose 10.2% by this math, the largest gain among the 30 markets tracked.
That surge included gains of 9.3% for what First American dubs “starter homes” – the cheapest third of homes sold. That was the sixth-biggest price jump within this “affordable” category of the 30.
Orange County was also No. 1 for “luxury home” appreciation with 10.3% gains among the priciest third of homes sold in April.
San Diego had the third-largest gains nationally, up 8% overall in a year. That included price hikes of 5.8% for starter homes (No. 13) and 10.2% for luxury homes (No. 2).
Pressure points
Two other Southern California markets showed modest gains.
Los Angeles County homes were 4.3% pricier overall (No. 16) – with gains of 4.6% for starter homes (No. 16) and 4% for luxury homes (No. 18).
The Inland Empire saw a mere 2.6% increase overall (No. 24) – with 2.4% starter-home increases (No. 26) and 4.7% luxury-home gains (No. 15).
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
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