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Realtor Report

Welcome to another edition of the REALTOR® Report! This is the busy time of year when I join thousands of REALTORS® as we gather for our Legislative Meetings in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to advocate for housing-related issues and private property rights. 

Last week, more than 2,400 REALTORS® were in Sacramento for our legislative conference and business meetings and to meet with State legislators. Our voices united as we all met with the same three hot issues. 

The first issue was educating and asking our legislators to stop creating barriers to homeownership, specifically to stop making it easier to pass local property tax increases. In 2022, at least 884 special tax measures were passed, adding to the already lack of affordability in the State. In fact, only 15% of Californians can afford the median-priced home today! While these taxes are typically used for community benefits such as transportation graffiti abatement, we don’t believe those expenses should only fall on the backs of homeowners in the community. 

The second issue was asking our lawmakers to create more homeownership opportunities. California needs 1.5 million housing units, and some estimates are even higher. In 2022, only 98,511 units were built! We offered various solutions and ideas, including ending frivolous anti-development lawsuits. 

The final issue we discussed was asking our legislators to OPPOSE SB 1462 (Glazer). As you are probably aware, when a buyer makes a deposit on a home, that money is held in escrow and is not released until closing or until there is a non-performance by either the buyer or seller. The money is locked up and protected. Senator Glazer’s bill would allow developers of new construction to have immediate access to the buyer’s deposit, and they could use the money for whatever they want, including developer costs and fees. The obvious challenge here is that if the seller (builder) doesn’t perform and they have used the money, what happens to the buyer’s deposit? The simple answer is that they would have to take the developer to court and seek a judgment. We OPPOSE this bill because it risks the buyer’s money, and they could potentially end up with no deposit money or home. 

The legislators we met with who represent Southwest Riverside County all understood our issues and supported what we asked them to do. This is great news for us and demonstrates why it’s so important to get the right person elected into office. So, I’d like to thank all of them on behalf of the REALTORS® and the communities they serve!

I am currently in Washington, DC, and will meet with our Congressional Representatives tomorrow. We will discuss similar issues, including updating tax laws to increase housing inventory and supply, preserving 1031 like-kind exchanges, and increasing the $10,000 SALT deduction. I am confident that, once again, the representatives from our area understand these issues and will work with us to address them. I will have more to report next month. 

We continue to remain hard at work with other state bills and are already succeeding in defeating bad housing bills. The state’s May budget revision will be out soon, and we will continue to monitor the many bills still making their way through the legislative process.

While a few housing numbers dipped, we had a fairly strong April. The demand for housing and limited inventory continue to keep prices up, double-digit in a few of our cities. With everything going on in the real estate industry (I’m sure you’re still seeing all sorts of headlines), REALTORS® are continuing to work hard to help navigate a very complicated and detailed transaction and hopefully showcase their value along the way. 

Let’s take a closer look at the numbers for our region from April 2024.

The median home price in Southwest Riverside County improved by 1% compared to the previous month ($610,000/$601,495) and improved by 7% from one year ago ($569,000). Comparing the median price to where it was 2 years ago, it has increased by 1.7% when the median price was $600,000. Unsold inventory remains at 3 months, still a ways off from the  6 months that is considered a healthy market. The median time on the market decreased to 15 days, down from 21 days last year but up considerably from 2 years ago when it was just 7 days. Unit sales declined slightly by 4% from last month but are up 9% from the same time last year. Unsold inventory increased 4% compared to the previous month and is up 24% from last year. Median prices were up in all but one city covered in my report, ranging from -3.4% to 19.7%.

I hope I have covered everything that affects you and your business. Please let me know if I left anything out or if you need anything explained further.

If you’d like a copy of my entire report including the detailed slides, or to be added to the distribution list, please email me at Adam@srcar.org.

As always, I am available if you have any questions about the report. Until next month…

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Adam A. Ruiz
Government Affairs Director
Southwest Riverside County Association of REALTORs®

Written by Adam Ruiz

Government Affairs Director, Southwest Riverside County Association of REALTORS®

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