California's housing crisis is turning many working-class cities into 'million-dollar cities': report

A growing list of California cities are suffering from an ongoing housing crisis, with working-class cities once seeing median home prices exceed $1 million.

according to los angeles times, Placentia, Orange, Tustin, Bonita, Cerritos and San Gabriel are all facing a significant jump in home values. Many of the hardest-hit cities are in Orange County, San Diego County, and Los Angeles County.

Bonita and Tustin saw the most significant growth rates, with homes jumping nearly 12% last year, the outlet noted.

Real estate agent Tor Black, 55, and his wife Iris have lived in Tustin for five years and purchased their “forever home” in 2022. The property has gone from $800,000 to $1.3 million (a 60% increase).

The average cost of an American home in the decade you were born, from the 1940s to the present day

The area has very little undeveloped land, so most people who move to the city buy old homes and use the excess money to fix them up, Black said. Many homes are also passed down through families. According to Black, these two factors increase real estate prices.

He noted that supply and demand constraints in Southern California make the price increases more understandable.

According to Zillow, California has 210 cities with a median home value of more than $1 million. The real estate market firm noted that there are only 550 “million-dollar cities” in the United States, giving California nearly 40 percent of them.

The Los Angeles Times found that California has more million-dollar cities than the next five states combined. Furthermore, California added 12 cities to the list in 2024. The state is bested only by New Jersey, which added 14 cities.

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Houses stand in front of the downtown skyline on August 30, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. According to data from the California Association of Realtors, housing affordability fell to a 16-year low in California in the second quarter of 2023. ((Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)/Getty Images)

Five Southern California cities saw home price growth between 12% and 17%.

Home prices have risen a whopping 65% over the past five years in the Bonita area of ​​San Diego County.

Average home value In 2023 across California it was $789,000, up 3.1% from 2022. The median home value has jumped 33.5% over the past five years.

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