The housing crisis is still having a major negative impact on California’s working-class towns; some of them are turning into “million-dollar cities.” According to a recent survey by The Los Angeles Times, cities including Placentia, Orange, Tustin, Bonita, Cerritos, and San Gabriel are having trouble keeping up with the rapidly rising median prices of homes that cost more than $1 million.
The situation is particularly dire in Orange County, San Diego County, and Los Angeles County, where real estate values are rising quickly. For instance, Bonita and Tustin saw the most growth rates, with property values rising by about 12% in only the past year.
Residents of Tustin, real estate agent Tor Black and his wife Iris, have personally seen the startling rise. Their house rose in value from $800,000 when they bought it in 2022 to $1.3 million, a startling 60% increase.
According to Black, the region’s real estate values are rising due to the shortage of available undeveloped land and the custom of passing down residences via generations. The disparities in supply and demand in Southern California are aggravating this tendency.
Currently, 210 localities in California have median property values of more than $1 million, accounting for approximately 40% of all “million-dollar cities” in the country. Only New Jersey has more new city additions on this list than the state did in 2024, with twelve.
There is no indication that the housing crisis will end, since prices have risen by up to 17% in several towns in Southern California. Californian home values have risen by an astounding 33.5% in the last five years, with a median value of $789,000 in 2023.