Southern California homebuying started 2026 in the fourth year of a deep freeze.
My trusty spreadsheet reviewed January sales stats from the real estate tracker Attom, which examines closed transactions for houses and condos, both existing homes and newly built.
These figures, dating to 2005, show that Southern California sales were running at a pace 31% below average.
Why? A typical monthly payment for a local house hunter is up 59% in four years as the six-county median sales price remains only 6% below its all-time high.
The Price Is Wrong
House hunters clearly can’t stomach stubbornly high prices, as the pandemic-era price surge has stuck despite slumping sales, costlier mortgages and a wobbly business climate.
The $785,000 median sales price in January is down 1% year-over-year and not far from the $831,000 peak set in June 2025.
The good news is that appreciation has cooled; the median is up just 13% in the past four years. But that doesn’t negate the 42% price gain over the previous 2018-22 period.
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