California's median home price hits record high at $900,000, Realtors association says

The average price to buy a home in California has reached a new historic high with the median price for a dwelling in the state hitting $900,000, the California Association of Realtors said in a recent report.

The new record of $904,210 was recorded amid a spike in home sales for April, the group said — with existing single-family home sales totaling 275,540 in April. That was up by 3% from 267,470 in March.

California Association of Realtors President Melanie Barker said the rebound "in both home sales and price shows the resilience of California’s housing market and is a signal that buyers and sellers are beginning to adjust to the higher interest rate environment."

Earlier this month, the U.S. Federal Reserve released its latest decision on rates, saying the U.S. central bank will keep rates at their current levels for now as inflation continues to take a toll on American spending.

For $1.5M you could own a California home with a meth lab inside

Year-to-date home sales across California were up by 1.6%, CAR said.

Barker said, "Market fundamentals are showing signs of improvement, and competition is on the rise again. Homes are selling faster and nearly half the share of homes is selling above asking price, the highest in nine months."

In March, Redfin said it would take an income of about $76,000 per year just to afford to buy a basic starter home in the U.S. — up by 8% over the year prior. Rachel Riva, a Redfin real estate agent said, "Homebuyers are doing whatever they can to pull together a large down payment in order to lower their monthly payments moving forward."

But as the age-old expression in real estate goes: "location, location, location."

Last year a 2,743-square-foot, six-bedroom home in the southern part of San Jose, California was listed for $1.55 million, to be sold "as is" with “inactive meth lab” and “meth contamination” included.