According to the California Association of REALTORS’ July 2026 existing-home sales report, released August 17, 2026.
What the report says
C.A.R. said the statewide median price for an existing single-family home was $887,680 in July. That was down 1.9% from $904,640 in June, and the first time in four months the median sat below $900,000. Compared with July 2025, the median was up just 0.3%.
Sales also cooled. Existing single-family sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 263,170, down 6.0% from June and up 1.1% from a year earlier. C.A.R. noted statewide sales have now stayed below the 300,000 annualized mark for 46 months in a row.
Key points to know
- Los Angeles County’s median was $888,120, down 2.4% from June and 2.6% from July 2025.
- The Inland Empire still priced lower than the coast: Riverside County’s median was $649,000. Sacramento County’s was $540,000.
- The San Francisco Bay Area median was $1,285,000. Southern California’s regional median was $899,000, up 2.7% from a year earlier.
- Inventory loosened a little from June (3.4 months of supply vs. 3.1) but was tighter than July 2025 (3.7 months). The Bay Area remained the tightest major region at 2.3 months.
- Homes that did sell went in a median of 26 days, versus 28 days a year earlier. The typical sale closed at 99.3% of list price.
Why it matters if you are buying or already own
A median under $900,000 is not a fire sale. C.A.R. said July’s drop was steeper than the usual June-to-July pattern, and part of it came from fewer million-dollar sales in the mix, not only from homes getting cheaper. Price per square foot was $434, slightly below last July.
For shoppers, the useful piece is local: more listings than in June, a slightly slower market than peak season, and a wide gap between inland prices and coastal ones. For owners, a 0.3% year-over-year median move is not a valuation of any one house.
July’s mortgage-rate backdrop in the C.A.R. report (a 6.54% monthly average, based on Freddie Mac’s weekly survey) is already stale. Freddie Mac’s latest weekly average as of August 27, 2026 was 6.66% for a 30-year fixed loan. That is a national application average, not a quote.
Important limits
- This is C.A.R.’s statewide and county resale data for existing single-family detached homes, not new construction and not a forecast of your sale price.
- Medians move when the mix of homes sold changes. A county with few sales can swing hard for that reason alone.
- Oregon is not in this report. Local listing, comparable-sale, and loan-level numbers still matter more than a statewide median.
Bottom line: July gave California buyers a little more room to look, not a cheap market. Use the median as context, then compare the actual house, the payment, and cash to close.
Source: California Association of REALTORS: July 2026 Home Sales and Price Report
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