California’s housing market stayed down in March, the result of the open-ended war with Iran, rising gas prices and up-and-down stock market.
Sales of existing single-family homes totaled 265,320 during the third month of the year, down 3.5 percent from February, and down 2.5 percent year-over-year, according to the California Association of Realtors.
Those seasonally-adjusted numbers marked the 42nd consecutive month that sales were below 300,000, the number generally considered the sign of a healthy housing market.
“March home sales were subdued, as higher mortgage rates and stock market volatility kept many buyers on the sidelines,” Tamara Suminski, the association’s president, in a statement. “As both geopolitical tension and interest rates ease for the third straight week, buyers and sellers who have been taking a wait-and-see strategy could return to the market.”
Statewide, the median home price rose 7.1 percent, to $889,190 between February and March. Year-over-year the increase was 0.4 percent.
In the Inland Empire, the median home price – $610,480 – was a 1.5 percent increase month-over-month but a 0.2 percent decline compared with March 2025. Sales were up 31 percent and 2.3 percent, the association reported.
IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.