High Fees for Developers Ratchet Up California Home Prices

A long-awaited study detailing how much cities and counties charge developers to build housing in California found that such costs are often hidden, vary widely across the state and have slowed growth.

The report, released this week by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, comes as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers continue to search for ways to lower construction costs to help remedy a shortage of available homes. The study recommends that legislators push cities and counties to make public their fees, set standards for services so that costs will be more predictable and take into account how they affect housing production.

“While fees offer a flexible way to finance necessary infrastructure, overly burdensome fee programs can limit growth by impeding or disincentivizing new residential development, facilitate exclusion and increase housing costs across the state,” said the report by researchers at UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation. …

Click here to read the full article from the Los Angeles Times

Southern California median home price jumps to a record $536,250

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image14115451The Southern California median home sale price reached a new all-time high in June, jumping 7.3% from a year earlier, according to a report released Tuesday.

The six-county median — the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less — hit $536,250, real estate data firm CoreLogic said. That’s up $6,250 from the previous record high, reached in May.

Sales, though, plunged to 22,706, down nearly 12% from June 2017. It was the lowest number of closed sales for June in four years.

The drop in sales could signal that people are increasingly priced out of the market or simply unwilling to pay sky-high home prices. …

Click here to read the full article from the L.A. Times