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Median Price
The price at which half the homes sold above the price and half the homes sold below the price - the midpoint price of home sales in each year. According to most experts, this is the most accurate measure of home sales price growth or decline in a given year.
Average Annual Price Increase
Over this 36 year period, the average annual price increase in California has been 8.9%.
What is more interesting, however, is that the rate of growth in recent years still doesn't equal the growth rate of the late seventies. Sure, an $80,000 average price increase sounds like a big deal compared to $13,000. First, that $13,000 would be worth $32,500 today. Second, investors measure growth by the rate of return, which is a percentage - not a dollar figure.
Housing Bubbles?
We wanted to research whether "housing bubbles" had occurred in the past. This data indicates that they have not occurred on a national level, at least since 1968 (see the related article on the Housing Bubble).
California has shown price declines, but nothing comparable to famous bubbles of the past. Japan's Nikkei bubble declined to 19.53% of its former value. The NASDAQ bubble declined to 21.6% of its former value. There has never been anything like that in real estate and it does not appear there will be.
California Association of Realtors
They are the source of our data for this page.
|
| Year |
Median Price |
Increase/Decrease |
|
|
|
| 1968 |
$23,210 |
NA |
| 1969 |
$24,230 |
4.4% |
| 1970 |
$24,640 |
1.7% |
| 1971 |
$26,880 |
9.1% |
| 1972 |
$28,810 |
7.2% |
| 1973 |
$31,460 |
9.2% |
| 1974 |
$34,610 |
10.0% |
| 1975 |
$41,600 |
20.2% |
| 1976 |
$48,630 |
16.9% |
| 1977 |
$62,290 |
28.1% |
| 1978 |
$70,890 |
13.8% |
| 1979 |
$84,150 |
18.7% |
| 1980 |
$99,550 |
18.3% |
| 1981 |
$107,710 |
8.2% |
| 1982 |
$111,800 |
3.8% |
| 1983 |
$114,370 |
2.3% |
| 1984 |
$114,260 |
-0.1% |
| 1985 |
$119,860 |
4.9% |
| 1986 |
$133,640 |
11.5% |
| 1987 |
$142,060 |
6.3% |
| 1988 |
$168,200 |
18.4% |
| 1989 |
$196,120 |
16.6% |
| 1990 |
$193,770 |
-1.2% |
| 1991 |
$200,660 |
3.6% |
| 1992 |
$197,030 |
-1.8% |
| 1993 |
$188,240 |
-4.5% |
| 1994 |
$185,010 |
-1.7% |
| 1995 |
$178,160 |
-3.7% |
| 1996 |
$177,270 |
-0.5% |
| 1997 |
$186,490 |
5.2% |
| 1998 |
$200,100 |
7.3% |
| 1999 |
$217,510 |
8.7% |
| 2000 |
$241,350 |
11.0% |
| 2001 |
$262,350 |
8.7% |
| 2002 |
$316,130 |
20.5% |
| 2003 |
$371,520 |
17.5% |
| 2004 |
$450,990 |
21.4% | | |