July Home Prices Rise To 10 Year High

Home prices in the Sacramento region are the highest they've been in about a decade.

Research firm CoreLogic says Sacramento County's median sales price in July was $344,000.

"You have to go back a little over 10 years to see a median sale price that high," says Andrew LePage with CoreLogic. He says July's median was up nearly 12 percent from July of last year and it was up by almost $10,000 from the previous month. Sales were also up in July by 2.5 percent from a year ago.

Meanwhile annual sales of new homes were also up in July by 29 percent.

"And year-to-date new home sales are the highest in nine years in Sacramento County and for the four-county region," says LePage.

But LePage says new home sales are still below historical average levels by up to 40 percent in some counties because there isn't as much new home construction going on as there was in previous times. That means the inventory of available homes still remains tight...and prices will likely continue to go up.

Capital Public Radio’s latest multimedia documentary project The View From Here: Place And Privilege explores the history, politics and economics of housing affordability in California's capital. We map the crisis through the personal stories of neighbors who are hit the hardest and living on the edge.