California median home price – July 06: $567,360   California highest median home price by C.A.R. region July 06: Santa Barbara South Coast $1,075,000   California lowest median home price by C.A.R. region July 06: High Desert $333,330   Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index – Second Quarter 06: 23%     Mortgage rates – week [...]

State Farm has requested a 10.6% reduction in homeowner’s insurance rates, a request that would result in significant savings for 1.2 million Californians, the California Department of Insurance recently announced. If approved, policyholders would save an average of $103 annually, amounting to $123 million in total savings across the state. Earlier this year, Insurance Commissioner [...]

Boosted by stabilizing gas prices, the confidence level of Californians increased this quarter compared with second quarter of 2006, according to a recent report from the Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University. During the third quarter, the Center’s California Composite Index of Consumer Sentiment rose to 88.6, up from 79.5 in the second [...]

The percentage of first-time buyers in California able to afford a median-priced home stood at 23% in the second quarter of 2006, compared with 30% for the same period a year ago, according to a newly developed index released today by the California Association of Realtors. C.A.R.’s First-time Buyer Housing Affordability Index measures the percentage [...]

Home sales decreased 29.9% in July compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home increased 5.1%, the California Association of Realtors reported. Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled 453,980 in July. Statewide home resale activity decreased 29.9% from the 647,910 sales pace recorded in [...]