Where are the listings?

First-time buyers purchased a third of California homes sold in 2022, the California Association of Realtors

most recent homebuyer survey showed.

Those first-timers typically bought homes in the 1,400- to 1,500-square-foot range, paying a median price of $642,000. Their typical age: 35.

Nevertheless, the share of first-timers who can afford to buy an entry-level house fell to 32% this past spring, down from 66% in 2012, the Realtors' first-time buyers affordability index showed. Entry-level houses were affordable to just 33% of Southern California households and 28% of Bay Area households.

“The share of first-time buyers shrank … (due to) the housing market's combination of historically low inventory, persistently high home prices and rapidly escalating interest rates,” Jessica Lautz, the National Association of Realtors' deputy chief economist, said last fall.

“Right now, there are hardly any … starter homes on the market,” added Danute Mazeika, an agent with Realty One Group West. “Many days, we're looking at the market and saying, (where are the) new listings?”

To make matters worse, entry-level buyers are competing with higher numbers of cash offers.

More than 36% of the nation's starter homes were bought without a mortgage last May, the secondhighest number in a decade, Redfin reported.

“The most affordable homes for sale are no longer affordable to people with lower budgets,” Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari said in a statement. “That's locking many Americans out of the housing market altogether, preventing them from building equity and ultimately building lasting wealth.”