The median price for a home in California is set to jump north of $800,000 next year, adding to a long-simmering affordability crisis in the state.
The state, which has grappled for years with a shortage of affordable housing, will see prices rise 5.2% to a median of $834,000 in 2022, according to a forecast by the California Association of Realtors.
That comes after a surge of roughly 20% this year, and would push the median price for an existing single-family in California even further beyond the national average of about $357,000.
“Demand for homes will continue to outstrip available supply as the economy improves, resulting in higher home prices and slightly lower sales in 2022,” Jordan Levine, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, said in a statement.
A shortage of homes to buy and rising mortgage rates mean that only 23% of households in California will be able to afford the median price, according to the report.
California is home to four of the five most expensive U.S. housing markets, led by the Silicon Valley metro area of San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara where the median price is $1.7 million.
