California’s housing crisis, an issue in the works for at least five decades, reached a crescendo of sorts over the past four years. Escalating prices, driven by the ongoing lack of supply, combined with spiking interest rates to drive up housing costs to untenable new levels.
A recent report by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office puts numbers to these realities, and the result is chilling. According to the nonpartisan LAO, a bottom-tier home in California — one that falls within the 5th to 35th percentile of home values here — costs 33% more than a mid-tier home in the rest of the country.
