The housing market in some cities, particularly in the Bay Area, has been a major concern for policymakers since it first hit the market in late 2015.
But now that it’s back in the spotlight, housing projects have been hit harder than usual.
The California Association of Realtors reports that home sales in the region fell 0.4% in February to a four-year low of 3.8 million units.
A lot of that was due to the effects of the Great Recession, which saw the number of foreclosures skyrocket.
But some analysts are worried that housing prices are likely to continue falling and may even outpace incomes for some families in coming years.
A report from RealtyTrac says the Bay area has more than 300,000 homes that are under sale, with prices dropping in just a few years, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders.
That’s a lot of homes that people are either planning to buy or not able to sell, according, Realtytrac Chief Economist John Gazziotta.
He says that’s a major problem for California, which is struggling to make up for years of foreclosed homes and foreclosers.
“We’re seeing these massive numbers of foresold properties and it’s causing a real problem in the housing market,” Gazzo said.
The Bay Area is also home to one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.
The National Association for the Realtor said the number is at over 20% of the region’s housing stock, while the average price per square foot is around $1,200.
And if you’re not buying now, it’s only a matter of time before you end up owing thousands of dollars on your home, according Realty Trac.
The problem isn’t just in the metro area.
The housing industry has been hit hard in the Northeast as well.
The NAR report says the region is also seeing its housing prices plummet due to higher-than-average vacancy rates.
But it doesn’t mean that the Northeast will continue to have a shortage of homes.
Gazzia said that the number was down 2.6% in the last quarter, while in the East the number increased by 6.4%.
And in the South, the number dropped by 3.3%.
The NRA’s analysis doesn’t provide a projection for the rest of the country, but the association says that the Bay Region has one of California’s highest housing vacancy rates, which means there could be more of a shortage in the future.
That makes sense, given that the region has been the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis.
As of late last year, over 2.2 million Californians had homes that were under foreclosure, according the state’s Department of Finance.
And there are currently 2.1 million Californias homes that aren’t in foreclosure, with another 1.5 million people in the state that are currently in the foreclosure process.
In the last year alone, the average cost of a home in the U.S. has increased by nearly 6% in California, the NRA report found.