The staircase on the high-basement cottage at 2019 Pacific Avenue in Alameda draws the eye upward to the home’s full porch. A row of spindles complements the porch that sweeps across this Queen Anne-style home. Fish-scale shingles — like the spindles, signature Queen Anne elements — decorate the second-story dormer, which is built in the form of a pediment. A pair of windows on each side of the entry door adds symmetry to this home. The window in the dormer echoes the design of the windows below.
Housing prices, gentrification and inequality have been hot topics in the news lately. Recent articles and opinion pieces in the Alameda Sun have wrestled with how many people will move to Alameda due to new development, and others have grappled with how many will move out through eviction.
Somewhat lost in the discussion has been a sense of just how many people have been moving in, and outside of specific developments, where the most new Alamedans are settling.
California pending home sales rose sharply from last July and posted the strongest year-over-year increase in more than six years, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) recently reported.
The association’s Pending Home Sales Index, which is based on signed contracts, climbed 17 percent on an annual basis to 122.3 in July.
This marks the eighth straight month of year-to-year gains and the sixth straight month of double-digit advances.
Only seven of California’s counties are affordable to home buyers who earn the areas’ median household income, while homes in 25 counties were out of reach for the typical household, according to analysis by the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.).
The report also found that less than a third of the state’s inventory of available single-family homes, condominiums, and townhomes for sale was at or below the home price that a household earning the California median income of $60,244 can afford.
California’s housing market accelerated in April as the spring home-buying season kicked off with both higher home sales and prices for the third straight month, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R) recently reported.
