While California’s housing market has undergone tremendous changes over the years, with some aspects worsening in the last decade, the central problem—high housing costs—remains the same. On PPIC’s 30th anniversary, we take stock of California’s housing market over the last three decades, tracking changes in housing costs and homeownership rates as well as some of the consequences of the housing crisis, including financial stress, homelessness, and people leaving the state.
As California’s population has increased, more housing units have been built—yet housing costs and rent increases have outpaced building. Since 1990, the state has added 3.6 million housing units and 9.4 million residents (increases of 33% and 31% respectively from April 1990 to January 2024). Adjusted for inflation, California’s median values for owner-occupied housing have increased 56% since 1990 (from $456,000 to $753,000) and rents have increased 39% (from $1,300 to $1,800). California’s housing values remain more than twice as high as the national median, and the state’s rents remain about 50% higher.
