"As 2026 starts, cracks are appearing in whatever magic has kept California's housing market intact. My trusty spreadsheet found affordability woes are spreading, with just a whiff of price drops and homebuying at near-record lows. The reality is even the least expensive parts of California have become unaffordable for homebuyers. Ponder affordability data from Attom, which tracks the typical house hunter's financial challenges dating to 2005 in 36 California counties."
"Splitting those 36 counties into three slices helps to show how the homebuying burden has changed from 2025's fourth quarter to not-so-recent lows in buying's financial burden a decade-plus ago, just after the Great Recession slashed prices. Yes, affordability may be improving in early 2026, but these figures highlight how far affordability has fallen. First, look at California's 12 priciest counties where a median 83% of income went toward the fourth-quarter's $1 million home price."
Affordability worsened across California in early 2026, leaving even the least expensive counties unaffordable for buyers. Attom measured the share of income required to purchase a typical home by comparing home values, mortgage rates, and household incomes across 36 counties. The median share of income in the 12 priciest counties reached 83% for a $1 million median home, while the 12 cheapest counties also required a median 83% share for a $398,000 median home. The priciest counties' burden more than doubled from a 37% low, and the cheapest counties' burden more than quadrupled from 20%. Zillow data showed values fell in 88% of the state, with 14 of 16 California metros declining year-over-year and Stockton down about 4%.
Read at www.ocregister.com
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