C.A.R. REPORTS HIGHEST-EVER MEDIAN HOME PRICE; HOUSING AFFORDABILITY CONTINUES DOWNWARD.

ACCORDING TO THE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIAtion of REALTORS(r) (C.A.R.), Los Angeles, and Sacramento, California--based Transamerica Intellitech, a real estate information service, the median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during the first quarter of 2000 was $232,620, the highest on record. The median price increased 14.5 percent from a year ago, when it was $203,180, and was the sharpest year-to-year increase since the second quarter of 1989, when it was 21.6 percent. The median price in Santa Clara hit $488,760, a 30.6 percent increase from the same period a year ago. In addition to Santa Clara, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Orange, Monterey, Northern Wine, Riverside-San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo regions posted double-digit increases in median home price for their respective areas.

Meanwhile, C.A.R. reports housing affordability in California fell to 31 percent in March, down 8 percent from March 1999. At 12 percent, the least affordable county in the state was San Francisco, followed by 13 percent for Contra Costa and San Mateo counties. In Southern California, San Diego County was the least affordable, registering 25 percent, followed by Orange County at 28 percent. In Los Angeles County, affordability was 37 percent and in Ventura County it was 32 percent, according to C.A.R. With housing affordability at 72 percent, the High Desert remains the most affordable region in the state.