Summary
Affordable housing in California
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Making California affordable.
Affordable housing was never really synonymous with California real estate - until now. Lenders have geared up creative loan programs designed to get first-time buyers in the door, and business is booming.
California is famous for many things: great climate, beautiful beaches and some of the most expensive real estate in the country. But lately the California housing market has been developing a different reputation. It has quietly become one of the country's newest meccas for first-time homebuyers and, increasingly, for low- to moderate-income buyers as well. In 1995, first-time homebuyers dominated California's real estate market for the first time, accounting for 50.8 percent of the market, according to the California Association of Realtors (CAR). And, notably, the median purchase price for this buying sector was $154,900, compared with an overall 1995 California median purchase price of $189,730. A myriad of factors are coming together to make the term "affordable housing" synonymous with California's newest housing market niche. The state's economic downturn began later than the rest of the country; consequently its recovery has been slower to materialize. According to Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president, economics and public policy, for the CAR, "California is about two years behind the rest of the country in this cycle." While the national recovery traces its current health back to May 1991, when it emerged from recession, California's current rebound dates to the end of 1993, Appleton-Young told a panel session on the economy at the recent annual convention of the ...See the full content of this document
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