> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Priced out of the market - URL: https://www.smdp.com/priced-out-of-the-market/ - Published: 2002-03-19T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:09:08.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Working class are finding it difficult to afford homes in Santa Monica* John Deasy thought when he moved to Santa Monica last summer to become the new school superintendent he would have no problem finding a home. As he and his family began to look for a house he soon realized it wouldn’t be that easy. Home prices are triple the cost of where Deasy came from in New Hampshire. “I had a 4,000 square-foot Colonial house with two acres and I sold it for more than $250,000,” he said. After succumbing to the realities of Santa Monica’s real estate market, Deasy quit looking at home listings and downgraded to condominiums. “I thought we would take the money and make a down payment on something here. I’ll be lucky if I find a condo for 2,500 square feet,” he said. The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District has been discussing ways to help Deasy, who makes roughly $150,000 a year, find a home. “I think it’s the boards desire to have the superintendent reside in our community,’ said School Board President Julia Brownley. “And we want to find a way to make that happen.” Essentially, they have proposed extending Deasy a loan at a very low interest rate to help with his down payment, and until he finds a home in Santa Monica or Malibu the school district provides him with a $1,500 a month housing stipend. 3D3,“I think the superintendent is an integral member of the community and I think it’s extremely important that he live in the community he is helping shape,” Brownley said. “The superintendent isn’t looking for a palatial mansion, just a home that can comfortably fit a family of five.” Although Santa Monica’s housing sales are difficult to gauge because the city is dominated by expensive homes, there has been a pull back in the high-end of market, said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. The median home price in Santa Monica dipped from $745,750 to $667,000 from January of 2001 to January 2002, representing a 10\. 6 percent decline. However, those numbers are skewed because of the high number of multi-million dollar homes in areas of the city like north of Montana Avenue. That is one reason the majority of Santa Monica residents are renters. But it’s not just in Santa Monica where the working class can’t afford to live. Fewer Californians could afford to buy their own home in January compared with a year earlier, and the affordability gap between the state and the rest of the nation widened, according to an industry study released last month. Only 32 percent of California households could afford a median-priced home, compared with 35 percent in January 2001, data from the California Association of Realtors showed. While mortgage rates are still near record lows, they are not low enough to offset rising real estate prices, said CAR president Robert Bailey. Median Californian home prices surged 17.1 percent across the state in January, significantly higher than the 10 percent gain in median home prices nationwide. Regionally, Contra Costa was the least affordable county in the state in January, where only 16 percent of households could afford a median priced home. San Francisco County was a close second at 17 percent. But the numbers in San Francisco County, where the technology bust has cooled the once red-hot property market, mark a substantial improvement from a year earlier when only 11 percent of households could afford to own. In Los Angeles, affordability dipped to 34 percent of households from 38 percent a year ago. In Orange County, the picture improved slightly, with 31 percent able to buy, compared with 29 percent in January 2001. Tight supply and pent-up demand drove the median price of an existing, single-family detached home up to $285,860 during January 2002, from $244,110 a year earlier, the state’s association of realtors reported. Median home prices increased in most parts of the state. Of 307 California cities and communities, 240 had rising prices from a year ago, the association of realtors reported. (Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this report). *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 19, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031902.pdf?ref=smdp.com)