California home prices jumped by the biggest margin in 5 years. Here’s what you’ll pay now

For the first time since 2014, the average cost of a home in California jumped by more than 10 percent compared to prices in the same month a year earlier.

The average California home price rose to $615,090 in December 2019, a 10.3 percent increase from a year prior and the first double-digit price hike since May 2014, according to the state Department of Finance.

The median price through 2019 was $592,450, a 4 percent increase since 2018. That’s more than double the national average, according to Zillow.

The prices are rising despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to call attention to housing affordability and to prod government agencies to build more.

“The status quo is simply unacceptable — we aren’t building enough housing,” Newsom said during his recent State of the State address. “This means a commitment — right now, this year — to major reform that will eliminate red tape, and delays for building critically needed housing — like affordable, multifamily homes—especially near transit and downtowns.”

Newsom urged lawmakers to deliver ideas that would boost production, what he called the “only sustainable way” to dig California out of the supply shortage.

Approved building permits dropped nearly 6 percent in 2019, from 118,000 to 111,000. That number falls far below Newsom’s goal to build 3.5 million new units by 2025, a target that requires a yearly average of 500,000.

Housing permits are expected to increase “gradually” to about 165,000 by 2023, Newsom’s January budget proposal notes, and “the continued slow growth in housing constrains job growth and is expected to remain the main driver of inflation in California.”