SACRAMENTO — California’s spring homebuying season continued to fall short of expectations, as elevated mortgage rates and growing economic concerns restrained home sales from year ago levels for the fourth straight month, the California Association of Realtors recently reported.
Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 261,820 in July, according to information collected by CAR from more than 90 local Realtor associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales gure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2025 if sales maintained the July pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically in uence home sales.
California home sales trail last year’s levels for fourth straight month
July home sales activity dipped 1% from the 264,400 homes sold in June and was down 4.1% from a year ago, when 272,990 homes were sold on an annualized basis. July marked the fourth consecutive month of yearover-year sales declines, pushing the year-to-date sales into negative territory (-0.4%) for the rst time in six months. It was also the 34th straight month in which the seasonally adjusted sales rate remained below the 300,000 benchmark.
Statewide pending sales slipped from last year’s level for the eighth consecutive month in July, registering the largest year-over-year decline since November 2023. While mortgage rates have dropped to their lowest level since October 2024, the latest uptick in in ation could reverse the recent rate improvement trend and push rates back up closer to 7%.
As such, housing demand is likely to remain so through August until buyers and sellers get a better sense of what direction the market and economy are going.
“The housing market experienced a modest slowdown in both sales and prices in July as some buyers stepped back, waiting for more certainty in the market and broader economy,” said CAR President Heather Ozur, a Palm Springs Realtor.
“Encouragingly, mortgage rates have recently declined to their lowest level since last October, and that has already led to an increase in purchase applications. If this trend continues, we could see stronger buyer activity and renewed demand in the months ahead.”
California’s median home price declined for the third consecutive month, falling to a vemonth low of $884,050. The July gure was down 1.7% from June and also down 0.3% from $886,420 in July 2024. The July monthly drop is inconsistent with the long-run average of a 0.3% gain typically observed between June and July, suggesting the market could be bucking the usual seasonal pattern as elevated mortgage rates and economic uncertainty continue to so en demand and exert downward pressure on home prices.
“With housing inventory reaching a plateau and the statewide sales-price-to-list ratio hitting a near 30-month low, the market appears to be cooling o slightly as home prices dipped
for the third straight month,” said CAR Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Jordan Levine.
“Even with recent price declines, California’s median home price could still see a modest annual increase in 2025, provided the market stabilizes in the coming months.”
Other key points from CAR’s July 2025 resale housing report include:
• At the regional level, non-seasonally adjusted home sales improved in only two of California’s ve major regions on a year-over-year basis. The Far North edged out a 4.8% gain from a year ago, while the Central Coast surpassed last year’s sales by 1.7%. In contrast, the San Francisco Bay Area experienced the largest regional decline, with sales falling 4.1%, while Southern California (-1.7%) and the Central Valley (-1.5%) both recorded more modest pullbacks.
• At the county level, 18 of the 53 counties tracked by CAR recorded year-over-year sales gains in July, with half of those counties achieving double-digit sales growth.
Imperial County (116.1%) was the only county with a triple-digit increase from a year ago, followed by Mariposa (91.7%) and Butte (41.6%). Thirtyfour counties experienced annual sales declines in July, with nine counties dropping more than 10% including Mendocino (-26.7%), Lake (-22.6%), and Madera (-21.3%).
• In July, only two of California’s ve major regions saw year-overyear median home price
increases, while two remained unchanged, and one declined. The Central Coast posted the largest gain at 4.9% compared to July 2024, followed by the Far North with a 3.1% rise. Prices in the Central Valley and San Francisco Bay Area held steady, while Southern California recorded a slight 0.7% dip.
• At the county level, 31 of California’s 53 counties posted year-overyear median home price gains. Mono (56.5%) had the sharpest increase of all the counties, followed by Santa Barbara (32.4%) and Tehama (27.6%). Twentyone counties experience price drops from a year ago, with Trinity (-19.2%) dipping the most, while Mendocino (-15%), and Plumas (-14.6%) recorded the second and the third steepest annual price declines in July, respectively.
• July’s unsold inventory index, which measures the number of months needed to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate, slipped from June, as fewer new listings came onto the market. The index was 3.7 months in July, a slight dip from 3.8 in June but up from 2.9 months in July 2024. On a yearly basis, the UII continued to post double-digit growth, with total supply surpassing last year’s levels for the 17th consecutive month.
• Total active listings were up 37.7% from a year ago, reaching a 69-month high. That said, the pace of growth in total active listings decelerated for the third straight month, hitting its lowest
rate in seven months.
• The median number of days it took to sell a California single-family home was 28 days in July, up from 20 days in July 2024.
• CAR’s statewide sales-price-to-list-price ratio was 98.5% in July 2025 and 100% in July 2024.
• The statewide median price per square foot for an existing single-family home was $435, down from $437 in July a year ago.
• The 30-year, xedmortgage interest rate averaged 6.72% in July, down from 6.85% in July 2024, according to CAR’s calculations based on Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage survey data.
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All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the federal Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, physical handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preferences, limitation or discrimination.” California also extends protection based on age and marital status. The Mountain Democrat makes every effort to comply with these federal and state regulations. We ask your assistance in maintaining an acceptable standard of advertising. While they may seem inconvenient at times, these laws are written to protect you, our readers and advertisers, as well as ourselves. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this paper are available on an equal opportunity basis. For further information, you can call the Dept. of Fair Employment & Housing at (916) 445-9918 or the State Dept. of Consumer Affairs at (800) 344-9940.Note: Rental ads that contain the phrase “Single Occupancy” refer only to the physical characteristics of the dwelling and are not intended to state a preference of either marital or familial status.
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Homes that just Sold in your neighborhood
Many metro areas post home price increases
National Association of Realtors News release
WASHINGTON, D.C.
— Seventy- ve percent of metro markets (170 out of 228) registered home price gains in the second quarter of 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors’ Metropolitan Median Area Prices and A ordability and Housing A ordability Index. This is down from 83% in the rst quarter. Five percent of metro areas recorded double-digit price gains in the second quarter, down from 11% in the rst quarter of 2025.
The national median single-family existinghome price grew 1.7% year-over-year to $429,400 — a record high. In the rst quarter, the national median price increased 3.4% year-overyear.
Median existing single-family home price
by region
• Northeast: $527,200 (+6.1%)
• Midwest: $328,800 (+3.5%)
• West: $646,100 (+0.6%)
• South: $376,300 (No change)
“Home prices have been rising faster in the Midwest, due to a ordability, and the Northeast, due to limited inventory,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The South region — especially
Florida and Texas — is experiencing a price correction due to the increase in new home construction in recent years.
“Home sales and the homeownership rate are underperforming relative to job growth,” added Yun. “There have been over 7 million net job additions compared to the pre-COVID peak. However, elevated mortgage rates have kept home sales below pre-COVID levels. The homeownership rate has fallen by a full percentage point since early 2023. “If interest rates decline, the strongest release of pent-up housing demand is likely to occur in states with signi cant job growth in recent years, such as Idaho, Utah, the Carolinas, Florida and Texas.”
10 large markets with biggest year-overyear median price increases
• Toledo, Ohio (10.5%)
• Jackson, Miss. (10.5%)
• Nassau CountySu olk County, N.Y. (9.6%)
• New Haven-Milford, Conn. (9%)
• Reading, Pa. (8.3%)
• Spring eld, Mo. (8.2%)
• Akron, Ohio (8.1%)
• Montgomery, Ala. (7.9%)
• Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio (7.8%)
• Rochester, N.Y. (7.8%)
10 most expensive markets
• San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. ($2,138,000; 6.5%)
• San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif. ($928,000; 3.7%)
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. ($879,900; 2.9%)
• Boulder, Colo. ($859,500; -3.2%).
Housing a ordability
■ 24% of markets experienced declining
home price
• Up from 17% last quarter
■ $2,256: monthly mortgage payment on a typical existing single-family home with a 20% down payment
• 6.5% increase quarter-over-quarter
• 0.3% decrease year-over-year
■ 25.7%: average share of income typical families spent on mortgage payments
• Up from 24.4% last quarter
• Down from 26.9% last year
First-time buyers
■ $2,212: the monthly mortgage payment for a typical starter home valued at $365,000 with a 10% down payment
• $134 increase from Q1
• $6 decline year-over-year
38.7%: share of income fi rst-time buyers spent on monthly mortgage payments
• Up from 36.8% in Q1
• Down from 40.6% year-over-year
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