California should legalize psychedelics but learn from mistakes in marijuana regulation

Table Of Content

• Pro Tips for Buying in Today’s Real Estate Market
• What inflation looks like in Southern California: ‘It’s a losing battle’
• Top Videos
• Baby boomer packed housing markets are unfazed by higher mortgage rates—the rest don’t have enough homes or sellers
• Editorial: The Supreme Court cannot allow homelessness to be a crime
• Opinion: Inflation isn’t the real problem for the U.S. economy. The housing shortage is

Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy. While the supply of homes on the market remains below the historical average, the typical increase in homes for sale that happens ahead of the spring homebuying season gave home shoppers a wider selection of properties to choose from. “We’ll probably see several years of pretty tepid home price appreciation,” McBride said.

Pro Tips for Buying in Today’s Real Estate Market

Though some housing market data indicates signs of growth are in store this spring home-buying season, persistently high mortgage rates may hinder activity from fully flourishing. Elevated mortgage rates, out-of-reach home prices and record-low housing stock are the perennial weeds that experts say hopeful home buyers can expect to contend with this spring—and beyond. Just over a year ago, as we entered the Coronavirus lockdown, it seemed you might not be able to give away some houses, and in-person showings were completely shut down in Los Angeles. Now, we appear to be in the midst of one of the hottest national housing markets since before the financial crisis.

What inflation looks like in Southern California: ‘It’s a losing battle’

It thinks that trend will spread to more cities in 2024 even as mortgage rates slip a bit further. There are signals that buyers are out there touring homes despite rising rates. Mortgage-purchase applications are up 5% week over week, and Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index–a measure of requests for tours and other buying services from Redfin agents–is near its highest level in seven months. Chen Zhao, Redfin’s economic research lead, said some house hunters are hoping to buy now because they’re concerned rates could rise more, and others have grown accustomed to elevated rates and pushed down their home-price budget accordingly. “Markets are just kind of recalibrating for the reality that the Fed is not going to cut interest rates right away,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst.

Top Videos

A federal court order that restricts San Francisco’s ability to clear street encampments of homeless people who have no where else to go will continue to stand as a broader debate on the issue plays out nationally. Recent studies of homelessness in California, they say, have shown most homeless people in the state lived here before becoming homeless. While policies that criminalize homeless people do uproot them, Donovan said, it is locally and temporarily — and with negative consequences, not positive ones. Connecting homeless people with services is a great solution, he said, but citations and arrests can make that process more challenging. For outside observers — including a slew of local municipalities, legal scholars and other stakeholders who submitted their own independent briefs to the court — the case touches on philosophical differences about how to help homeless people. The Grants Pass case began when local homeless people challenged as unconstitutional a pair of city ordinances against sleeping and camping in public parks.

Baby boomer packed housing markets are unfazed by higher mortgage rates—the rest don’t have enough homes or sellers

Currently, rates are based on an insurance company’s past losses, which insurers increasingly dismiss as insufficient in light of the widespread acceptance that climate change has thrust California into a more dangerous future by causing more wildfires. Gambino said the Glassell Park area where the home is located is popular among artists, musicians and actors. Many people who fit the bill have come to see the house, but it has also attracted a wider range of potential buyers like a chef who would use it entertain, and other business people who are interested in the home as a piece of art. As a Los Angeles financial planner, many of my clients have owned homes, some since before my parents were even born.

Basically, there are more buyers than sellers, and homes, so prices can’t fall. Home sellers are increasingly cutting their asking prices as buyers, constrained by higher mortgage rates and overall inflation, have become less willing to jump into the housing market at any cost. Olsen was referring to a recent analysis that found monthly home price increases were the most substantial in “coastal California metros” (and Seattle). It showed home prices rose more than 3% in San Jose, and more than, or roughly, 2% in San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

Housing Market Update: Buying a Home Costs More Than Ever, With Prices Hitting All-Time High and Mortgage Rates ... - Redfin News

Housing Market Update: Buying a Home Costs More Than Ever, With Prices Hitting All-Time High and Mortgage Rates ....

Posted: Thu, 25 Apr 2024 12:03:01 GMT [source]

Editorial: The Supreme Court cannot allow homelessness to be a crime

At $20,000 below the $450,000 list price, his offer — the only one — was accepted. When his roommate decided to move in October, Jackson chose to look again, this time seeking deals swirling in the crosscurrents of the real estate fallout. Stephen Jackson lost out on more than a dozen properties as home prices surged during the pandemic housing boom. He finally called off his search in 2021 when someone outbid him for a Tarzana condo by $25,000 — and paid in cash. The Times produced a guide to help first-time home buyers navigate the market.

Plus, it has a great view of the city, she said, making it the ultimate LA outdoor space. "This is definitely the exact kind of house where you would dream," Gambino said in an interview with USA TODAY. "It's a very special house where people immediately get, you know, emotionally connected when they're there." The home at 2538 Sundown Drive is for sale at $2.3 million, listed by Compass agents Carl Gambino and Ariel Putman, and was recently shared on real estate fan account Zillow Gone Wild. When she sold her home in the Greater Los Angeles Area and moved into a new retirement home, it was during the 90s housing recession in SoCal.

That was a dramatic change, and that made it much more expensive to take out a mortgage. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is down to a weekly average of 7.03%, according to government-backed lender Freddie Mac. As a data journalist at Redfin, Dana Anderson writes about the numbers behind real estate trends.

“Buyers have a few more choices available than last year,” Zillow Chief Economist Skylar Olsen wrote in a recent blog post. After a series of “unimpressive Januaries the last few years,” last month’s uptick in inventory is still relatively modest, she said. But Olsen forecasts “a competitive home shopping season come spring” nonetheless. Caroline Basile is Forbes Advisor’s student loans and mortgages deputy editor.

Mortgage rates headed higher last week after the CPI inflation report, but now, with news of a wider war in the Middle East, should we expect even higher rates? Some argue that money will go into the safety of the bond market, while others say a wider war can lead to higher inflation and higher rates. On the other hand, higher mortgage rates could squash what was a modest rebound. Mortgage rates — though elevated — have come off their 7% highs, and home prices have fallen as sellers struggled to get offers.

Prices may soften, or you may get sucked into (way) overpaying for a home. Or perhaps, you buy your dream home only to find your dream job is in another town, and you are forced to move. Most experts do not expect a housing market crash in 2024 since many homeowners have built up significant equity in their homes.

There is always a risk of losing money on a home in Southern California, including high-cost areas like most of Los Angeles, West Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. There is obviously more risk when prices are as high as they appear to be now, paired with a housing shortage, record-low interest rates, and what appears to be a buying frenzy. But unless someone discovers some hidden land that tens of thousands of homes can, magically, be built (quickly), there is little reason to expect a crash in the Los Angeles housing market. As a financial planner, I must point out that the Los Angeles housing market crashing and you getting misguided into an unwise home purchase are not necessarily the same thing.