Wild stats about the California housing market

Los Angeles County, California
Market Trends & Data
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Wild stats about the California housing market

Travis BernardPro Member
VP, Membership & Marketing @ BiggerPockets · Thousand Oaks, CA · Member since 2026 · 4 posts · 2 votes

New analysis from the US Census Bureau sheds light on how extreme things have become in California versus national averages.

*The majority of California residents move from renters to buyers at age 47. National average is 36. In 2009, most Californians bought at 41.

*Median home price in LA County is now $880K, more than double the national median of $435K.

*Only 17% of LA households earn the minimum income needed to afford a typical $5500 monthly payment.

*California's home ownership rate is only 56% versus the 66% national average. New York lands at 54%.

I'm based in California, and I've been fortunate enough to purchase. It's getting harder and harder to buy in this state, and I worry it will get worse before it gets better. What do we tell families in their 30s who are thinking about buying? 

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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
1mo

I grew up in Cupertino and bought my first home in milpitas  2 homes in Palo alto 

and lastly lived up in the Napa Valley .. 

CA has ALWAYS been like this it seems  when I wanted to buy my first house Cupertino was 100k and milpitas was 80k so I bought there ( brand new shapel home :) 

generally once you get your foot in the door you use equity to move up.. larger down payments because of said equity to keep montly payments the same depending on rates.. But once you leave CA its hard to get back thats for sure. 

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  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    1mo

    I grew up in Cupertino and bought my first home in milpitas  2 homes in Palo alto 

    and lastly lived up in the Napa Valley .. 

    CA has ALWAYS been like this it seems  when I wanted to buy my first house Cupertino was 100k and milpitas was 80k so I bought there ( brand new shapel home :) 

    generally once you get your foot in the door you use equity to move up.. larger down payments because of said equity to keep montly payments the same depending on rates.. But once you leave CA its hard to get back thats for sure. 

    Podcast Guest on Show #222
    JLH Capital Partners51 Review
    WebsiteView Page
    2Reply
    • Alan F.
      Flipper/Rehabber · CA · Member since 2023 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
      1mo
      Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

      I grew up in Cupertino and bought my first home in milpitas  2 homes in Palo alto 

      and lastly lived up in the Napa Valley .. 

      CA has ALWAYS been like this it seems  when I wanted to buy my first house Cupertino was 100k and milpitas was 80k so I bought there ( brand new shapel home :) 

      generally once you get your foot in the door you use equity to move up.. larger down payments because of said equity to keep montly payments the same depending on rates.. But once you leave CA its hard to get back thats for sure. 


      I think avg DOM in SJ is under 20 days or so. Just saw several flips sell via pocket listing....never even went on MLS, $1.3m ish. No shortage of buyers for good neighborhoods

      0Reply
  • Alan F.
    Flipper/Rehabber · CA · Member since 2023 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    1mo
    Quote from @Travis Bernard:

    New analysis from the US Census Bureau sheds light on how extreme things have become in California versus national averages.

    *The majority of California residents move from renters to buyers at age 47. National average is 36. In 2009, most Californians bought at 41.

    *Median home price in LA County is now $880K, more than double the national median of $435K.

    *Only 17% of LA households earn the minimum income needed to afford a typical $5500 monthly payment.

    *California's home ownership rate is only 56% versus the 66% national average. New York lands at 54%.

    I'm based in California, and I've been fortunate enough to purchase. It's getting harder and harder to buy in this state, and I worry it will get worse before it gets better. What do we tell families in their 30s who are thinking about buying? 

    After stagflation of 70's/80's RE prices in CA doubled+-

    Debasing a fiat currency by artificially suppressed % rates, QE when it wasn't necessary & litany of other keynsian policies dives up real assets. History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. 





     
    1Reply
  • Dan H.Pro Member
    Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    1mo
    Quote from @Travis Bernard:

    New analysis from the US Census Bureau sheds light on how extreme things have become in California versus national averages.

    *The majority of California residents move from renters to buyers at age 47. National average is 36. In 2009, most Californians bought at 41.

    *Median home price in LA County is now $880K, more than double the national median of $435K.

    *Only 17% of LA households earn the minimum income needed to afford a typical $5500 monthly payment.

    *California's home ownership rate is only 56% versus the 66% national average. New York lands at 54%.

    I'm based in California, and I've been fortunate enough to purchase. It's getting harder and harder to buy in this state, and I worry it will get worse before it gets better. What do we tell families in their 30s who are thinking about buying? 


     Two recent studies both show that in virtually every US city the rent has never been lower compared to sales price.  Both studies showed in virtually every large city in the US, it is cheaper to rent than to purchase.

    This one stat could explain the increase in age of buyers (question why anyone would buy) as well as the decline in home ownership rate (again, why would anyone buy).

    Now to the affordability….  The homes statistically are the least affordable in my San Diego market since the 1980s this implies that they are unaffordable.  My issue is that many young people believe they are all time least affordable.  To further my issue, many young people thought RE was unaffordable in 2016 to 2022 because they were mire expensive than 2010 to 2015, but historically this period was more affordable than the majority of the last 50 years.

    2016 too expensive.  2018 too expensive, 2020 to expensive, 2026 too expensive.  I question if 2012 was too expensive for these people.  My view is some people will always find RE too expensive.

    Note I am finding it difficult to find purchases that project my usual buy criteria (buy and hold recovery of full investment in no more than 4 years).  I have never found it more challenging to find RE that meets my usual buy criteria.  It is a challenging RE investment market.

    Good luck

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