California

Cities and counties in Southern California will have to plan for the construction of 1.3 million new homes in the next decade, a figure more than three times what local governments had proposed over the same period, according to a letter released by state housing officials.

Wealthy buyers are pulling back from some of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S., the latest sign that sky-high prices and fears of a recession are weighing on a key sector of the economy.

After two disastrous fire seasons, California officials have been besieged by homeowners in fire-prone areas complaining that their insurance premiums are skyrocketing or their plans are suddenly being dropped.

Despite a record streak of higher prices, some economists believe homes in certain Bay Area communities should be considered a bargain. And that's even with median price tags easily topping a million bucks.

Builders in Oakland are on course to create more new housing units than San Francisco this year, a notable role reversal for a city that has long produced far less residential development than its wealthier and more bustling neighbor across the bay.

For the first time in years, the San Diego County housing market is starting to cool.

Foreign buyers have cooled on the U.S. residential home market, dropping investments by more than one-third over the previous year and spending less in expensive California.

Robert Shapiro, the former chief executive officer of Woodbridge Group of Companies, pleaded guilty to running a $1.3 billion fraud that caused more than 7,000 investors to lose money, according to prosecutors.

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed Wednesday to spend California's share of a national mortgage settlement on legal assistance for struggling homeowners and renters, funds that lawmakers illegally diverted in 2014 to help erase the state's budget deficit.

Home prices slipped in some of the costliest U.S. markets in the second quarter, a sign that would-be buyers are sitting out the competition for a scarcity of affordable properties.