California House Prices Slashed in Multiple Cities

Sellers in some of California's biggest cities are slashing the price of their homes listed for sale on Zillow, according to the latest data on the real estate marketplace's app

Read more: How to Sell Your Home

One site shows 15 per cent of all properties listed in the state had price reductions, aimed at attracting hesitant buyers.

As of Thursday morning, there were a total of 83,093 properties—including single- and multi-family homes, townhomes, apartments, condos and lots—in California listed by agents on Zillow, and 3,822 listed by owners and others. Of these, 13,311 listed by agents and 319 listed by owners had a price reduction—roughly 15 percent of all homes for sale in the Golden State.

But the rate of properties for sale with a price reduction was even higher in some of California's major cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego and Sacramento.

In Los Angeles, one of the most expensive housing markets in the entire country, there were a total of 6,039 properties listed for sale on Zillow, 971 of which had a price reduction. That's about 16 percent of all homes for sale in the metropolis.

Read more: What Is a Mortgage? Types & How They Work

In another very expensive city, San Francisco, there were 1,358 homes listed for sale on Zillow as of Thursday morning, 216 of which had a price reduction—nearly 16 percent of the total.

In Oakland, a city which has seen an increase of violent crime and other felonies in 2023, there were 888 properties for sale on Zillow, 158 of which had a price reduction—about 18 percent of the total. In San Diego, the percentage of homes for sale with a price reduction was 19 percent, for 286 out of 1,494 listed on Zillow.

In Sacramento, 21 percent of all homes listed for sale on Zillow had a price reduction as of Thursday, for a total of 183 out of 859.

These are the top five cities in California with the largest number of homes for sale and the number of homes with a price reduction. But not all these cities' housing markets are facing the same situation. In some of these cities, house prices are dropping year-over-year; in others, they're climbing.

In Los Angeles, the median sale price of a home, according to Redfin, was $970,000 in March, down 1.5 percent from a year earlier. In Oakland, it was $840,000, down 7.7 percent from March 2023.

In San Francisco, the median sale price of a home was $1,415,000 in March, up 4.8 percent year-over-year. In San Diego, it was $931,000, up 6.5 percent from March 2023, while in Sacramento it was $502,500, up 10.2 percent compared to a year earlier.

Read more: Find the Lowest Rates From Top Mortgage Lenders

At the state level, prices are increasing, mainly due to a historic shortage of homes. According to Redfin, the median sale price in California was $816,800 in March, up 10.1 percent from a year earlier.