The number of entry-level homes affordable to first-time buyers is dropping as first-timers are increasingly priced out of homeownership.
Buying a Southern California home is “crazy and competitive — and almost overwhelming,” first-time home shopper Imelda Pastrana said.an entry-level houseAfter putting in their first bid for an Anaheim condo on Sunday, Aug. 13, they learned that 19 others also made offers for the property.
“It’s shocking what’s happening now,” she said. “And what they’re buying is extremely expensive. To me, it’s scary.”It’s been 44 years since Huntington Beach broker Rick Caruso sold his first home to a first-time buyer. It was a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house with two stories and just over 1,600 square feet. The new owner — an auto painter with a stay-at-home wife and two small children — paid $44,000 for it in 1978.
The Cramers paid $353,500, then sold it for $695,000 in 2005 to move back to their home state of Ohio.“Wow,” Cramer, 52, said of the latest sales price. “That would be a real tough one for a first-time homeowner to get into.” 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.
Ramiro and Christina Villegas outside their new house, along with daughters , Khole, 14, Evalina, 9, and Nicole, 19, and their dogs Oliver, Akira and Rocky. The Redlands house is Ramiro’s first since losing his last house to foreclosure in 2012. After getting outbid several times, Ramiro said, he learned he had to offer more than the asking price to get his bid accepted. Ramiro Villegas has been renting a house in Victorville since he lost his last house to foreclosure in 2012.
Newlyweds Niles and Megan Pentecost are typical of today’s first-time buyers: young, professional and benefiting from some assistance from Megan’s parents.
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