California Home Prices Plunge 18% in 10 Months

The pandemic-driven home value spike in the Golden State has come to a crashing halt, as the California Association of Realtors’ (C.A.R.) reports the median price of a single family home in California in February fell to $735,480, and is now 18.3% lower than its $900,170 peak in May 2022. In addition, thanks to high inflation and lousy weather, February was the 27th-slowest month for sales since 1990.

That being said, softer interest rates actually led to a 17.6% uptick in February sales. “The recent failure of a handful of tech-focused banks caused an unexpected drop in interest rates, which could offer an opportunity in the near term for homebuyers who have been waiting on the sidelines to lock in a lower rate,” said C.A.R. VP Jordan Levine.

At the regional level, the San Francisco Bay Area leads the way in plummeting home prices, recording a 19.2% median price decline year-over-year. By contrast, the Los Angeles Metro region experienced a more moderate decline of 2.1%.