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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% |
|
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