Community Real Estate

California Sues 5 Cities Over Failure to Comply With State Housing Law
Source: KTLA News

California is suing five cities for repeatedly failing to plan for their share of housing, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.

Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) filed actions against Calexico, Costa Mesa, Half Moon Bay, Ridgecrest and Turlock, accusing each of violating California’s Housing Element Law.

Under the law, every city and county must update its housing plan every eight years to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or its share of the regional and statewide housing needs, according to a news release from Bonta’s office.

Senior Housing Wealth Reaches Record Level in First Quarter
Source: Housingwire

Housing wealth among homeowners age 62 and older rebounded to a record $14.92 trillion in the first quarter of 2026 after declining in the previous two quarters, according to the latest National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) – RiskSpan Reverse Mortgage Market Index.

The quarterly index, which has tracked senior home values and home equity trends since 2000, found that the increase was driven by rising home values and relatively modest growth in mortgage debt.

Senior housing wealth increased by an estimated $314.8 billion, or 1.8%, during the quarter. That gain was partially offset by a $10.5 billion, or 0.4%, increase in mortgage debt held by homeowners age 62 and older.

CA DRE warns of scammers impersonating real estate licensees
Source: California Department of Real Estate

The Calif. Dept. of Real Estate recently released a warning that scammers are increasingly impersonating real estate agents and brokers by using their photos, names, license numbers and other information to create fake social media accounts, using Tik Tok and craigslist listings to illegally engage in activities that require a license from the state, such as home buying and property management.

DRE advises consumers and licensees to be aware of scams that involve the misuse of the names of legitimate real estate licensees. If a real estate professional contacts you, get the name of the person calling, emailing, making a solicitation or offering services, look that person up on the DRE website (www.dre.ca.gov), locate a telephone number for the brokerage or service from another source than the person contacting you, and speak with the licensee.

San Diego County among least affordable as housing improves statewide
Source: MSN

Housing affordability in California improved slightly in 2025, but San Diego County remained among the least affordable markets, while significant gaps persisted for Black households, according to a report released Friday by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.). According to C.A.R., 19 percent of California households earned enough income to purchase a median-priced home in 2025, up from 18 percent the previous year.

In San Diego County, affordability was among the lowest in the state, with 17 percent of all households able to afford a median-priced home. Among demographic groups, 23 percent of Asian households and 21 percent of white non-Hispanic households could afford a home, compared to just 11 percent of Hispanic/Latino households — among the lowest rates statewide — and 11 percent of Black households, according to the report. The statewide median price for a detached home was &875,550 in 2025. A minimum annual income of $221,200 was required to afford monthly payments of about $5,530, including taxes and insurance, assuming a 20 percent down payment and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.71 percent.

LA condo prices nosedive by 6%, to the lowest in 12 years
Source: AOL

There’s great news for those seeking a place to live in Southern California with the prices for condominiums in the area dropping to their lowest point in more than 12 years. The median home sale price in February for a condo in the six major SoCal counties came in at $656,000, according to property tracking site ATTOM. That price is down 6 percent compared to last year, when condos hit a peak of $699,000. The price plummet shows the biggest drop for condos in the area over a 12-month span since February 2012.

However, median prices for single family homes did not follow the same trend. In LA, the median price for a single-family home costs 31 percent more than a condo, per Homes.com. The median condo price in March fell 4.5 percent in LA, compared to single family homes that dropped 1.8 percent compared to the prior year. The report cited a 17.7 percent jump in growth in LA condo inventory compared to single family homes year over year, which could be a contributing factor to the price cuts.

How AI is intensifying real estate fraud
Source: Inman

The threat that artificial intelligence poses to cybersecurity means that scammers are increasingly leveraging AI tools to scam homeowners, buyers and sellers. Experts warn that scammers are using tools like ChatGPT to generate polished, highly convincing phishing emails that erase many of the traditional red flags used to spot scams.

Technically, OpenAI prohibits the use of its models to generate malware, facilitate fraud of deception, or engage in any illegal activity. Its systems are designed to refuse direct requests to write phishing emails or build scam websites. However, they can still lower the barrier for bad actors and help streamline research, refine language, and scale the kind of content that underpins phishing campaigns. Voice cloning is challenging the tools that traditionally protect email accounts via detection of suspicious domains or email headers. While someone might pause to verify an email’s origin, they are less likely to hesitate if someone calls who sounds like their boss. Powerful new AI models like Anthropic’s Mythos tool could make fraud detection much harder.

Middle-Class Homeownership Act qualifies for the ballot
Source: CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

The Middle-Class Homeownership Act has officially qualified for the state’s November ballot as part of the campaign to build new housing and make home loans affordable for middle-class Californians. The measure enables middle-income Californians to purchase a new home with only 3 percent down, while spurring a wave of new home construction, at no cost to taxpayers.

The measure would authorize $25 billion in revenue bonds to provide low-interest, downpayment-assistance loans to eligible Californians. It will also fuel construction of approximately 190,000 new homes, generating significant economic benefits across the state. For more information, go to www.cahomescoalition.com.

Occupations most likely to own homes in the U.S.
Source: Realtor.com

In more than 60 percent of metro areas, the occupations most likely to own homes today are different from what they were a decade ago, according to new data from the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR reports that some jobs make it easier to become a homeowner than others. While higher salaries play a role, factors like job stability and the geographic locations of jobs are also important. It depends mostly on affordability. Earning a high salary in a high-cost market might not be enough, while in more affordable markets, even lower-paying jobs can have higher homeownership rates.

Management and business roles were the most likely to own homes, with homeownership rates at 72.2 percent nationally compared to 72.4 percent in 2014. Across the country, 67.3 percent of teachers and social service professionals own their homes, a small decline from 68 percent in 2014. Engineers, computer scientists and other STEM and technical professionals had a homeownership rate of 67.2 percent, down from 69.2 percent in 2014. Sales and real estate professionals’ homeownership rates rose to 63.3 percent today from 60.8 percent in 2014. Approximately 62.2 percent of health care workers own their homes today, up from 61.8 percent in 2014, while 62 percent of electricians, carpenters and other skilled trades workers own their home – slightly higher than 61.2 percent in 2014.

Gap in number of home sellers and buyers widens — the biggest on record
Source: Redfin

There were an estimated 46.3% more home sellers than buyers in the U.S. housing market in February (or 629,808 more, in numerical terms), according to a new report from Redfin, the real estate brokerage powered by Rocket. That’s the largest gap in records dating back to 2013 and is up from 29.8% (or 449,409) a year earlier.

When sellers outnumber buyers, buyers typically hold the negotiating power because they have a lot of options to choose from. That’s why a market with a lot more sellers than buyers is considered a buyer’s market. Of course, it’s only a buyer’s market for those who can afford to buy. High housing costs and economic uncertainty have caused many house hunters to retreat, creating an imbalance of buyers and sellers.

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