A white-hot housing market took West Coast buyers towards learning that they need to pay excessively high prices for less fashionable, older homes. Kenny Slaught notes that home values have been steadily climbing since 2008, and common reference, the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index, states that Los Angeles home prices rose to their highest point since October of 2007 in April of this year. Having moved beyond simply recovering from the recession, Southern California’s larger metro areas are nearing their former peaks. Slaught says the rapid price increases can be attributed to numerous factors such as interest rates, job growth and supply and demand. As current 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages hover around 3.5% or less, enticingly close to the 3.31 percent record low hit in November 2012, many are seeking to buy. These historically low rates, coupled with strong employment numbers including a 2.4% gain in Los Angeles County and a 3.5% gain in Orange County, are making it clear just why values have appreciated so rapidly. Home prices may vary considerably statewide, but the inflated asking price of higher-end homes in California outpaces all other states with the exception of Hawaii. The feverish demand for housing cannot currently be met by the slim supply available, with many first-time buyers forced to consider condominium-style units: obtainable and within a more affordable price range.
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