Watsonville, CA housing market

What this means

• Valuation. Prices are 12% above what local incomes have historically supported (this area's pre-2020 price-to-income ratio).
• Prices. Home values are up 1.3% over the past year (U.S.: +1.2%), but still 3% below their 2022-23 peak.
• Supply. Listings are 8% below the 2017-19 norm and falling (−17% vs. a year ago), close to pre-pandemic levels.
• Negotiating. Buyer leverage is moderate (53/100; U.S.: 54): homes sell for about 1.5% below their final list price; 31% of listings had a price cut (U.S.: 26%).
• Affordability. A mortgage on the typical home takes 74% of the median household income (U.S.: 35%); it takes about $194k a year to keep the payment at 30% of gross pay. That includes about $2,208 a year for home insurance (U.S.: $1,790).
• Buy vs. rent. Buying costs about $1,631/mo more than renting a typical home (mortgage payment vs. typical rent).
• Disaster risk. FEMA expects about $479 a year in natural-disaster damage per $100k of building value (U.S.: $155), mostly from earthquakes. Earthquakes aren't covered by standard homeowners insurance.
• Outlook. Leaning up: likely −6% to +11% over the next 12 months (73% chance of a rise).

Next 12 months

Leaning up

Prices are more likely to rise than fall over the next year. Likely change: −5.6% to +10.8% (80% range; middle estimate +3.7%), chance of a rise 73%, of a 5%+ drop 11%.

HouseVane's model, refit every month on local market signals and national ones, trained only on data known at the time. How accurate it has been.