{"id":87658,"date":"2025-12-09T14:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/87658\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:50:09","slug":"california-home-prices-wont-crash-or-soar-in-2026-zillow-says-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/87658\/","title":{"rendered":"California home prices won\u2019t crash or soar in 2026, Zillow says \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those who believe California home prices will crash in 2026 and improve affordability, along with folks hoping for more soaring values to pad their wealth, won\u2019t like Zillow\u2019s latest forecast.<\/p>\n

My trusty spreadsheet analyzed price outlooks for calendar 2026 for 50 big metropolitan areas<\/a> \u2013 including six in California \u2013 and found Zillow\u2019s estimates suggest a dull year ahead. Meek price movements are forecast for the firm\u2019s regional indexes of its home valuations.<\/p>\n

A 1% gain was the estimated median price change among the six Golden State metros in the report. That\u2019s a slight reversal from the 2.3% dip in the past year to a statewide median of $935,700.<\/p>\n

House hunters remain sidelined as affordability remains ridiculously out of reach. Plus, Zillow doesn\u2019t foresee mortgage rates below 6% next year.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget that a wobbly economy with a challenging job market and stubborn inflation doesn\u2019t instill confidence<\/a> in potential buyers either.<\/p>\n

Plus, some gurus suggest that limited choices for wannabe owners keep prices out of reach. Statewide listings, as measured by the median change of the six metros, are 21% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.<\/p>\n

California dreamin\u2019<\/p>\n

A small value increase is forecast for four of the six California metros next year \u2013 with the three largest projected gains coming from the south \u2026<\/p>\n

San Diego: 2.3% gain next year, the sixth-highest of the 50 U.S. metros. That follows a 2% dip in the past year to a $922,000 median value, fourth-highest nationally. And there\u2019s 23% less inventory vs. 2019.<\/p>\n

Inland Empire: 1.6% gain next year (No. 14) after 2% dip past year to $580,700 (No. 8) \u2013 with 20% less inventory vs. 2019.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles-Orange County: 1.2% gain next year (No. 23) after 1% dip past year to $949,400 (No. 3) \u2013 with 16% less inventory vs. 2019.<\/p>\n

San Jose: 0.7% gain forecast next year (No. 33) after 1% dip past year to $1.57 million (No. 1) \u2013 with 21% less inventory vs. 2019.<\/p>\n

The two estimated dips are from the north \u2026<\/p>\n

San Francisco: 2.4% dip next year (No. 49) after 3% dip past year to $1,107,300 (No. 2) \u2013 with 2% less inventory vs. 2019.<\/p>\n

Sacramento: 0.8% forecast decline in the next year (No. 43) after a 2% dip past year to $573,100 (No. 10) \u2013 with 23% less inventory vs. 2019.<\/p>\n

National flatness<\/p>\n

The national picture is quite similar \u2013 basically, continued sideways values.<\/p>\n

U.S. prices are forecast to rise 1.2% next year after a meek 0.1% gain in the past year to a $362,100 median. National listings run 17% lower than in 2019.<\/p>\n

Even the gap between the\u00a0biggest projected winner and loser among the 50 U.S. metros is modest.<\/p>\n

Hartford is forecast to see 4% gains next year, after a 4% increase this past year to $382,300,<\/p>\n

New Orleans home values are forecast to fall 5.3% next year, after a 1% gain over\u00a0the past year to $254,200.<\/p>\n

Note the differing supply pictures, too. Hartford has 13% less inventory vs. 2019. New Orleans, 54% more listings.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Those who believe California home prices will crash in 2026 and improve affordability, along with folks hoping for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[387,100,388,74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-87658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-real-estate","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-san-diego-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}