Demand for California Desert Homes Rises

The demand for California homes have spilled over in the desert. 

A report from Marketplace noted that desert homes have become part of California’s real estate boom. 

A year ago, economies all over the world were shut down because of the pandemic. Many thought that with thousands of people losing their jobs and some having to cut down work hours, there would be no real estate buyers. 

The opposite happened as people no longer look at their houses as a mere place to sleep and eat. The home is now a place where people work, learn, exercise, and relax. 

The demand for homes also resulted in the steep increase in prices. 

That’s when people started looking at places outside the urban center. 

The wonder of Wonder Valley

Marketplace shared the story of Craig Higgins, who recently moved to Wonder Valley from Los Angeles. 

“Every property I looked at sold within two days above asking price, so I knew something was going on here,” he said, referring to his new hometown. 

Wonder Valley is an unincorporated town in Southern California’s High Desert region. It’s about two and a half hours from Los Angeles. 

The population? Just below 1,000. 

Higgins got lucky with his Wonder Valley small home as he only paid $50,000 for it. That is absurdly cheap if you consider that the current median price for a house in Los Angeles is $750,000. 

L.A. homes are always quite pricey, but the current median price is 17% higher compared to last year. 

Real estate agent Rob Grace told Marketplace that he’s the busiest that he’s ever been because of the demand for desert homes. 

“I’m too busy. Like, I have too much to do,” Grace said. “Because the price point is so low compared to the rest of California, Southern California, a lot of people are all cash, and people are willing to forgo appraisals, and go way over asking price.”

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Suburban living

Higgins, and more people like him, have a reason to move to the desert now. With work-from-home arrangements in effect, people don’t have to stay in the city centers anymore. 

People are moving out of the big cities where there are more people and where cost of living is more expensive. Not only that, in the suburbs, the houses are not just more affordable, they are also much larger. 

Many people who were renting in the city also made a big move to become a homeowner in the suburbs. 

The move to the desert or suburbs has the potential of becoming permanent considering that companies have already become more open to employees working remotely. 

It’s been a year since the pandemic was declared, which means companies have fine-tuned the process of remote working. 

Wonder Valley residents should brace themselves for new neighbors, especially now that there are fears of a Los Angeles housing market crash. 
The demand for Los Angeles homes is so high while the houses on the market are so few.