COVERAGE INFORMATION:
California Department of Real Estate (DRE) NEWS CLIPS service coverage:
Monday through Friday (except state holidays) each week includes electronic format articles retrieved from newspapers
or news services that report real estate related news in California and some national services. Coverage is for California
newspapers that are available electronically via the Internet – and any significant related breaking news.
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© Copyright 2023, California Department of Real Estate Links to web sites do not constitute an endorsement from The California Department of Real Estate. These links
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Top Stories
Mortgage rates drop for the 9th week in a row
San Jose Mercury News (Subscription)
US mortgage rates continued to drop this week, which extends the good news for home buyers who have been facing the least affordable housing market since the 1980s.
After dropping under 7% in early December for the first time since mid-August, rates fell again this week.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate fell to an average of 6.61% in the week ending Dec. 28, down from 6.67% the previous week, according to data from Freddie Mac released Thursday. A year ago, the average 30-year fixed-rate was 6.42%.
National News
Less than 16 Percent of U.S. Homes For Sale Were Affordable for Typical Buyers in 2023
DAVID BARLEY, World Property Journal
According to Redfin, just 15.5% of U.S. homes for sale in 2023 were affordable for the typical U.S. household–the lowest share on record. That’s down from 20.7% in 2022 and more than 40% before the pandemic homebuying boom.
The number of affordable homes for sale also dropped to the lowest level on record. There were 352,500 affordable listings in 2023, down 40.9% from 596,135 in 2022 and down from over a million per year during the prior decade. While the decline is partly due to a drop in listings in general–listings overall fell 21.2% year over year–it’s also due to the fact that elevated mortgage rates and stubbornly high prices made the listings hitting the market more expensive.
US home prices hit record high in October
HOLDEN WALTER-WARNER, The Real Deal (Subscription)
Home sale prices rose 0.6 percent from September to October, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index. It was the ninth consecutive month of price gains and the fastest annual rate of price growth of the year.
Prices are growing faster in the Northeast and Midwest compared to the Southwest and West. Las Vegas and Phoenix, which both experienced year-to-year price drops in September, resumed year-to-year price gains in October.
The Pandemic-Driven Migration Boom Is Waning, With the Share of Homebuyers Relocating at Lowest Level in 18 Months
DANA ANDERSON, Redfin News
The share of U.S. homebuyers looking to move to a different metro area declined for the third straight month in November, dropping to 23.9%, the lowest share in a year and a half. That’s down from 24.1% a year earlier–a tiny drop, but the first annual decline in Redfin’s records–and down from a record high of 26% over the summer.
The data in this report is based on the searches of about 2 million Redfin.com users who viewed for-sale homes online across more than 100 metro areas from September 2023 to November 2023. Redfin’s records go back through 2017. Scroll down for the full methodology.
California News
S.F. tax on empty homes faces legal challenge
BOB EGELKO, The San Francico Chronicle (Subscription)
A tax on thousands of vacant homes in the city approved last year by San Francisco voters faces a legal challenge by real estate groups after a judge declined to dismiss their lawsuit. The Empty Homes Tax, Proposition M in November 2022, is intended to encourage owners to make apartments available to would-be tenants while raising funds for the city to provide affordable housing. The measure passed with 54% of the vote.
Share the Spirit: A unique roommate finder helps Bay Area seniors stay in homes
MARTHA ROSS, The San Jose Mercury News (Subscription)
Snezhanka Stefanova was in a serious bind before she met Jeanne Falla.
The then-20-year-old would soon be without a home. Her parents planned to move back to their native Bulgaria, but the recent high school graduate had lived in Contra Costa County most of her life. She wanted to start college and didn’t want to leave her friends.
It’s not just the Bay Area — the number of affordable homes is plummeting across California
CHRISTIAN LEONARD, San Francisco Chronicle (Subscription)
While buying a Bay Area home became an even harder prospect in 2023, affordability in other areas suffered even more. This year was the most unaffordable for buyers nationwide in at least a decade, with the number of affordable homes plummeting in many California cities.
That’s according to a new report from real estate brokerage site Redfin, which found that only about 16% of homes listed in 2023 were priced at an affordable level for their areas. In 2022, that figure was at 21%, itself a steep drop from 50% in 2013, the earliest year for which Redfin has data.
California office building sells at 52% less than 2018 price
KATHERINE CHIGLINSKY, JOHN GITTELSOHN, The San Jose Mercury News (Subscription)
A Los Angeles office building located near Century City and Beverly Hills sold for about 52% less than its price five years ago.
Harbor Associates and F&F Capital Group bought the five-story property at 1640 Sepulveda Blvd. for about $44.7 million, according to a statement Tuesday. The building last sold in 2018 for $92.5 million.
It’s the latest sale of an LA office building in a market that’s been pressured by the rise of remote work and financing challenges brought about by soaring interest rates. Recently, the Aon Center in downtown LA sold for $147.8 million, about 45% less than its previous purchase price in 2014.
HOA Homefront: New Year, new laws for communities
KELLY G. RICHARDSON, The Orange County Register (Subscription)
A number of new laws affecting California HOAs take effect in 2024.
Here is a quick recap of what changes.
Balcony law: First is a reminder of an existing law with a deadline looming for HOAs.
Civil Code Section 5551 became law in 2020, requiring all HOA “elevated exterior elements” which are HOA responsibility to be inspected by an architect or structural engineer before 2025. Associations should not wait until later in 2024 to comply.
Southern California builders grab largest share of home sales in 15 years
JONATHAN LANSNER, The Orange County Register (Subscription)
Builders closed on 1,824 newly constructed Southern California residences in November, up 610 in a month – that’s 50% – but off five or a 0.3% drop in a year.
Meanwhile, 10,592 existing homes changed hands in November, off 1,500 in a month – a 12% dip – and down 542 or 5% in a year.
That translates to builders having 14.7% of all Southern California sales. Compare that with 9.1% in October, 14.1% a year ago, and an average of 12.4% since 1988. This is builders’ biggest slice of local sales in over 15 years.
Industry News
Zillow files antitrust lawsuit against two MLSs
The Real Deal (Subscription)
‘Tis the season for giving, and Zillow got in on the tradition with an antitrust suit addressed to two multiple listing services.
The firm, along with its home showing management platform, arguing that a new MLS-owned tool is getting an unfair advantage, according to the complaint reported by Inman,
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, claims Arizona Regional MLS and MLS Inc., violated antitrust laws by conspiring to restrict access to Zillow’s ShowingTime platform.
Adaptive Reuse
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Real Estate Technology
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Property News
From the Lens of Lee Friedlander, Real Estate Focusing on the Real
ANNA KODE, New York Times (Subscription)
These days, real estate imagery is often defined by staged hotel-lobby-style furniture and generic artwork, dramatic drone shots on unsettlingly perfect sunny days and a lack of human presence — almost never do you see any people or evidence that these homes have been lived in.
Lee Friedlander’s new photo book, “Real Estate,” published by Eakins Press Foundation, runs counter to all that. Spanning over 60 years of work with 155 photos, the collection takes viewers on journeys from Alaska to Arizona to New York and more, often viewed from the driver’s seat of Mr. Friedlander’s car.
Resources, Webinars, and Other Items of Interest
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In Case You Missed It
Record deals and tax-avoidance maneuvers: Southern California’s priciest sales of 2023
JACK FLEMMING, The Los Angeles Times (Subscription)
Southern California’s luxury real estate market never sleeps. But this past year, it collectively caught its breath.
Luxury sales slowed down in 2023 — a combination of soaring interest rates, a newly introduced “mansion tax” and an inevitable drop-off from a pandemic market when megamansions flipped like hotcakes.
In 2022, there were 17 home sales above $50 million and 48 over $30 million in L.A. County, according to the Multiple Listing Service. In 2023, there were only five sales over $50 million and 23 over $30 million.
