The Median Home Price In California Now Exceeds $600,000

The median price for a home in California has topped the $600,000 mark for the first time ever, according to the latest report from the California Association of Realtors.

You can blame the Bay Area and other red hot high-cost areas for the increase. There are now five counties out of the nine-county Bay Area where the median price is above a million dollars. And that could go higher looking at demand, which has led to many bidding contests. 

California Association of Realtors President Steve White says that in May, homes in San Francisco sold on average 18 percent over list price. "That's pretty common in those high cost Bay Area counties," he says.

In Sacramento County, the median price for a home last month was $375,000 -- that's up 1.6 percent from April, and up 9.6 percent from May 2017.

White says there's still a housing shortage at the lower end of the price scale.

The number of homes priced under $200,000 declined by more than 28 percent on an annual basis. And the number of homes priced between $200,000 and $300,000 dropped 13 percent. 

A full county-by-county list of median home prices and how much they've gone up or down can be found here.

Learn more at Capital Public Radio