The prices of houses in southern California have barely increased last month, as potential buyers were not able – or arranged – to tender much more housing costs.
Economists and real estate agents have cited a variety of factors probably contributing to the trend, including high mortgage rates, an increase in inventory and economic uncertainty caused in part by prices outside of failure.
In March, the average price of houses in the region of six counties in southern California increased by 0.38% compared to the month earlier to $ 875,908, according to Zillow Data. In the past 12 months, prices have increased by 1.9%, the smallest annual gain since August 2023.
“The housing market is no longer a seller's market,” said Orphe Divounguy, main economist at Zillow.
Part of the reason is the sellers themselves, said Divounguy. In the past year, more owners have put their house on the market, deciding that high mortgage rates are there to stay and it is more important to move than to keep the cheap loans they have acquired during the pandemic.
At the same time, potential buyers were not also eager to come back.
Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, said one of the reasons is that mortgage rates remain raised within 6%, considerably limiting what people can buy compared to the Covid-19 pandemic when the rates were lower than half.