California’s housing and rental markets have been soaring throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, creating competition for renters trying to secure an affordable home. The struggle to find shelter continues for some Orange County residents, who say tough competition and economic hardships are making it nearly impossible to nab a rental. “We’re going to be homeless,” Orange County…
Renters Struggle to Find Shelter During Hot Housing Market
Orange County Agency to Sue State Over Housing Mandates
An agency representing Orange County cities says it will sue the government department responsible for approving state-imposed housing quotas in California. The Orange County Council of Governments (OCCOG) has been meeting in closed session for nearly six months to discuss the legal matter. The board revealed to the public on May 27 that it had…
Santa Ana Outlines $130 Million Federal Aid Spending Plan
The City of Santa Ana, Calif. on May 24 revealed its spending strategy for the $130 million in federal funds it will receive through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The funds will be delivered to the city’s designated departments in two tranches, one year apart. Santa Ana will receive $79.5 million in the first installment. The city is…
LA-Funded Homeless Housing is Still Slow and Expensive
Commentary Between Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent pre-budget media blitz, President Joe Biden’s “infrastructure plan,” and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s recent State of the City speech, politicians have been making a lot of big claims recently. In an original economic analysis conducted for the Epoch Times, I analyzed Garcetti’s claims that housing funded by the…
Housing Prices Surge Across California
LOS ANGELES—The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in the Los Angeles area rose to $725,000 in April, an increase of $45,000 from a month ago, mirroring a spike across California that brought the state’s median price above the $800,000 benchmark for the first time, a real estate group said May 17. The…
Housing Affordability Falls Across Southern California
LOS ANGELES—Housing has gotten less affordable in all Southern California counties, compared to a year ago, a real estate group said May 11. Statewide housing affordability reached its lowest level since mid-2018, as higher prices fueled by a shortage of homes for sale pushed the state’s median home price more than 22 percent higher on…
Proposed Tax Code Change Likely to Cause Higher California Rents
Commentary Southern California is expected to build 1.5 million new homes throughout the next eight years. That was the finding of a recent pronouncement by California’s department of housing and community development. Even so, President Joe Biden’s administration is proposing a change in the federal tax code that could severely limit the likelihood that such…
Good News and Bad News
Dear Dave, My wife and I are in our late twenties, we have no debt, and our household income is about $180,000 year. We’re thinking about building a home, but we’re not sure whether to build just for us, or maybe building a multi-family place so we could live upstairs, rent the rest, and make…
More than $950 Million Budgeted for LA’s Homeless
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wants to spend up to $23,000 per homeless person over the next year. That’s the analysis of Garcetti’s state of the city speech April 19 and his 500-plus page budget proposal, covering the July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 fiscal year. In his speech, Garcetti said, “we will dedicate…
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Orange County Detached Homes Now Fetching $1.1 Million
Commentary The median sales price for a detached home in Orange County has risen to $1.1 million, up 22 percent from the $900,000 median sales price in 2020. This rapid price increase is driven by strong demand and a low number of homes for sale. Across all of Southern California, the average home is expected…