Exclusive | Orchard-lined California boomtown where you can still buy a home for less than $500K

The California dream isn’t dead — you just might have to head north to find it.For residents feeling priced-out of the Golden State, one charming Northern California city is quietly emerging as an affordable oasis, complete with sprawling orchards, bustling farmers markets and a booming housing market.Just 45 minutes north of Sacramento, in Yuba City, an agricultural hub with a population of about 70,000 people, buyers can still snag a home for under half a million dollars.“Yuba City offers something that can be difficult to find in California, a median listing price under $500,000.

At $460,000, it sits roughly $265,000 below the statewide median of $725,000,” Anthony Smith, Senior Economist at Realtor.com, exclusively told the California Post.“Prices haven’t changed a lot over the last 4 years (median price of $455,000 in September 2022), but the market underneath that flat number has changed.” The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story Nestled in the heart of Northern California, Yuba City sits along the Feather River, where tree-lined neighborhoods meets open country roads.While homebuyers elsewhere are battling sky-high prices, Yuba City is enjoying a building boom, with new homes popping up and inventory on the rise.“Active listings are up 14% from a year ago, and one in four is new construction, one of the highest shares for California metros,” Smith added.

He noted that buyers aren’t sitting on their hands, either: “Homes are spending a median of 61 days on the market, 3 days fewer than a year ago.For buyers who want access to a larger city, Sacramento is less than an hour away, which makes day trips easy while keeping the cost of living in a smaller town.”That brisk pace reflects a market where inventory is expanding to meet genuine dem...