Realtors head calls Lodi home prices reasonable

By Brian Ross/News-Sentinel staff writer

California’s real estate market has undergone perhaps the quickest and most radical period of transition in its history during the past decade.

The next decade will likely usher in just as much change, as the industry adapts to technological improvements that will make transactions faster, cheaper and simpler, said Richard Gaylord, president of the California Association of Realtors.

Addressing a crowd of about 90 Thursday afternoon at the offices of the Lodi Association of Realtors, Gaylord was the first CAR president to visit the city since 1989.

California’s hot real estate market is expected to continue sizzling well into 2001, Gaylord said.

“There’s no letup in sight, actually,” he said, adding that next year’s sales figures might trail the record levels of 2000 by a few percentage points. “But it will still be the state’s third-best year since World War II.”

At the same time, the median price of a California home is expected to rise by 8.5 percent next year — to $269,200, Gaylord said.

That means only about 30 percent of the state’s population can afford to buy a home, compared with the national rate of about 50 percent, Gaylord said. To that end, Gaylord said CAR is concerned with the ever-decreasing affordability of housing, as well as what he termed an inadequate supply of new homes in the state.

“We’re simply not building the number of houses we need to keep up with growth in California,” he said.

Despite the fact that Lodi homes are fetching unprecedented prices these days, they are still priced well below those in many areas of the state.

“You are blessed in Lodi with very reasonable home prices, beautiful parks and a strong sense of community,” he said. “In many ways, your city represents everything that’s great about America.”

Speaking about major changes which are still taking shape around the state, Gaylord said the Internet has been the most significant.

“The reality now is change,” he said. “We’re no longer the gatekeepers of the information. That was once our claim to fame, but those days are gone now.”

Despite the fact that the Internet was first seen as a major threat to the livelihoods of real estate agents, Gaylord said it has instead functioned as catalyst of change — and profit — for the most successful sellers in the industry.

“We conducted a study which revealed that the more information technology agents used, the greater their sales were.”

Gaylord also heralded California’s shifting demographic makeup as another phenomenon which is likely to foment change in the industry.

“Members of various ethnic groups now make up a majority in this state,” he said. “We need to be inclusive of all these groups in this industry. They are the buyers of today, and they will become the sellers of tomorrow.”

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