Tessa McLean

The median home price in California rose to more than $900,000 for the first time ever in April, setting a record for the state, according to recent data from the California Association of Realtors. That average has risen 11.4% since April 2023, jumping to $904,210. This is despite an overall poor perception of the economy and mortgage rates hovering around 7% — though that’s slightly down from October 2023, when they reached a 23-year high of nearly 8%. Housing inventory is still constrained…

California’s population grew last year, reversing some of the three-year decline driven by a pandemic-era exodus, according to new data from the California Department of Finance. The overall growth was modest — just 67,000 new residents across the Golden State — reflecting the fact that certain cities saw huge increases, while others’ populations fell precipitously. In the Bay Area, most cities saw nominal increases or slight decreases in population. Emeryville saw the third largest increase in…

Historic artwork that once lined the walls of some of California’s priciest resorts is up for auction. Water colors, posters and portraits, among other art, will go to the highest bidder starting May 9 at 10 a.m. PT, as part of a sale by Abell Auction Co. The works were once featured in Pebble Beach resorts and date back to the early 20th century. Among the most famous pieces is a Polynesian painting by artist Francis McComas, who was a resident of Pebble Beach towards the end of his life. The…

In the frenzied real estate market of 2021 and 2022, owning a short-term rental in the Coachella Valley seemed like the perfect money-making venture. In 2022, one study called Palm Springs, the valley’s most well-known spot, the best city in a large market to invest in an Airbnb property. Prices skyrocketed, contingencies vanished, and homes sold quickly for far over list price. But just two years later, that meteoric rise has halted. Home prices have stagnated, and the options to purchase a vac…

Up a winding private dirt road, above the Palm Springs neighborhoods filled with tourists and snowbird retirees, sits a 20-acre community made almost entirely of rocks. “Hopi Village,” also known as the Araby rock homes, consists of four houses built into a ridge, designed by prolific Palm Springs designer and contractor R. Lee Miller around 1929. Two of these homes are for sale for the first time in 45 years — and both just got drastic price cuts. Local lore swirled around these unique homes f…

A unique property designed and owned by B-52’s singer Kate Pierson and her wife Monica Nation has hit the market in the California desert. The sprawling 5 acres, dubbed “Kate’s Lazy Desert,” include six fully outfitted Airstream trailers, a 400-square-foot “homestead cabin” built in 1955 and a 225-square-foot shed in Landers, not far from Joshua Tree National Park. “It was [Kate and Monica’s] passion project. They love the high desert,” listing agent Niko Esposito told SFGATE. “They put a lot o…

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Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger have demolished an architecturally significant California home, and the internet is pissed. The celebrity couple purchased a Los Angeles house known as the Zimmerman House that was designed by modernist architect Craig Ellwood in 1950. The midcentury modern home was reportedly sold off-market for $12.5 million in 2023, only to have the duo tear it down shortly after. It sits just down the street from two homes owned by Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger’s mot…

New details have been released about California billionaire and Beanie Babies mogul Ty Warner’s latest real estate endeavor. The notoriously reclusive businessman is working on transforming Goleta’s Sandpiper Golf Club, parts of which are designated an environmentally sensitive habitat area (ESHA) with a special-status designation for the red-legged frog, as first reported by the Santa Barbara Independent. Warner bought the property in 2003 and has plans to renovate the area that would require…

Prominent tech executive, investor and San Francisco 49ers co-owner Gideon Yu has reportedly made a record-high home purchase in California. The former Facebook CFO bought a blufftop home overlooking the ocean in Malibu for $52M, one of the highest-ever recorded sales prices in the tony Point Dume neighborhood, according to the Robb Report. Yu bought the Southern California home in cash, the media site reported. He will have several high-profile neighbors, like Google co-founder Sergey Brin, for…