A feeding frenzy : Southern California home prices up 15% latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
There haven t been so many single-family homes under construction in the U.S. since 2007, yet many of these new houses won t be for sale.
Investors are building tens of thousands of houses expressly to rent in a bet that Americans will keep flocking to spacious suburban living even if they can t afford to buy homes.
The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a race for space among Americans, and home prices have surged to records. The gains have outpaced wage growth, straining affordability despite historically low borrowing costs.
Homeownership is unaffordable for average wage earners in 55% of U.S. counties, up from 43% a year earlier, according to Attom Data Solutions, a real-estate analytics firm. Meanwhile, single-family landlords have reported record occupancy and fast-rising rents since the pandemic began.
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
Rob and Katerina Krumwiede, with daughter Sophie, at their new home in Calabasas, Calif. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
The housing market is red hot. How long can it last?
Katerina Krumwiede wasn’t looking to move.
She and her husband, Rob, recently spent “well over” $100,000 on a complete remodel of their Encino house that added a backyard gazebo, custom kitchen countertops, new roof and imported bathroom tiles from Spain.
But Krumwiede, 40, said the single-story house still lacked quiet space – a drawback when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and she had to work from the master bedroom if she wanted to escape the sound of her husband’s frequent video calls.
Katerina Krumwiede wasn’t looking to move.
She and her husband, Rob, recently spent “well over” $100,000 on a complete remodel of their Encino, Calif., house that added a backyard gazebo, custom kitchen countertops, new roof and imported bathroom tiles from Spain.
But Krumwiede, 40