The cost of renting a home or apartment in Los Angeles and Orange counties has skyrocketed 5.8 percent in the last year. The latest rent hike is the highest since 2005 and has increased at the fastest pace in 14 years, according to the Consumer Price Index calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. […]
Sacramento’s push for more rental housing downtown just got a solid boost. A Washington state developer on Wednesday launched construction of the first of an expected 436 apartments in two mid-rise structures at Sacramento Commons, a residential site tucked a few blocks southwest of the state Capitol. The project will contain the most units of […]
Mario Canel met his wife inside the apartment where he’s lived for the last 33 years. Canel, a house painter, was at the Silver Lake complex off of Sunset Boulevard on a job, but he and his customer quickly connected over their shared Guatemalan roots. It wasn’t long before Mario and Sabina married, and her […]
Sales of new U.S. homes fell a steep 12.8% in July, but the drop came after revisions to June sales showed the sales highest growth in 12 years. The Commerce Department said Friday that new homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 635,000 units. That’s down from a sharply revised upward rate of […]
It’s ironic that the site of a longtime fast food restaurant — where predictable food was served with predictable haste — has become an emblem of City Hall’s incredible slowness and indecision. The McDonald’s that stood at Haight and Stanyan streets for five decades attracted violent crime and open-air drug sales, and it had to […]
If it seems like it takes longer to get around Sacramento than it used to, it’s not just your imagination. The latest urban mobility report from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute showed Sacramento-area residents had the 22nd-worst commute delays in the country, losing 59 hours in 2017 stuck in traffic. Since 1982, the amount of […]
Our real estate market has been so good for so long that the recent slowdown in home sales and price dip has caught many sellers and a few agents by surprise. Buyers are always the first to sense when the market is changing. That’s likely because they are constantly on the internet searching for homes […]
Home builders are pulling back from new construction, the opposite of what economists say is needed to ease California’s housing affordability crisis. In the first six months of 2019, builders gained approval for 51,178 new homes in California, nearly 20% fewer than the same period a year earlier. That puts the state on track for […]
U.S. mortgage rates have tumbled to their lowest level in nearly three years, but they are unlikely to provide much of a lift to the sluggish home-sales market. Economists said the rates could provide a modest boost to sales during the final months of this year, though few expect cheaper borrowing costs to reverse the […]
California’s housing shortage is nowhere as big as you think. In an age where statistics can be weaponized, pro-development types will toss out the biggest shortfall guestimate they can find to make their point: Only more construction will prune California’s high cost-of-living. Conversely, those who prefer slower growth will quote more modest shortage estimates — […]
The average BART rider may not know the term “transit-oriented development,” but when trains enter Oakland’s MacArthur Station, they see it face-to-face. A seven-story building with lime-green accents covers land that five years ago held parking lots. It’s part of a 385-unit apartment complex being marketed as “sleek and modern with a retro vibe … […]
Saying that a major development project places Auburn’s historic DeWitt Theater in danger of demolition, a citizens group has sued Placer County – a move that jeopardizes a plan for badly needed affordable housing, county officials say. The lawsuit, filed May 22 by Concerned Citizens for Community and Public Lands, challenges the Placer County Government […]
If California is serious about fixing its housing challenges, it should wean its cities off the sales tax gravy train. Until local municipalities are properly motivated to build, not much will change. And the only persuasion that makes cities jump is cash. Currently, cities are addicted to boosting sales tax collection because it’s about the […]
As housing affordability Opens a New Window. remains a major concern for Americans, a recent analysis determined America’s least affordable housing markets. 24/7 Wall Street Opens a New Window. analyzed ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q1 2019 U.S. Home Affordability Report Opens a New Window. and found the 25 areas where the housing market was not affordable. […]
Virginia Kidd has rented her apartment in midtown Sacramento for 12 years. The retired Sacramento State professor lives there with her cats and enjoys helping out at the local library. At 78, she said she has been lucky to age with minimal health issues so far, but she sometimes worries about what she would do […]