Palm Spring home prices drop 12%, still unaffordable for many

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) - The median price for a home in Palm Springs has dropped 12.5% to 1.1 million compared to last year, according to the March report from the Greater Palm Springs Realtors Desert housing report. However, even with a 12.5% decrease, some looking to purchase their first home in Palm Springs say it's still not affordable.

"A 12% drop and still over a million dollars...it's ridiculous," says a Palm Springs resident named Nicholas. He says to buy a home for his family, they'd probably have to move out of the city.

Others say it's not too bad compared to other regions in California.

"We now live in the Bay Area, up in the Silicon Valley, where the median price is about 2 million. So it is affordable," says Deanna Vukosav.

Chandra DaSilva, a Palm Springs realtor who's being selling homes for almost 30 years, says a 1.1 million dollar home is unaffordable for many in the middle class, who make more than $200,000 a year.

"I was born and raised here, I work with a lot of people. I work with everyone. The majority of people that I know would not be in that category to afford a $1.1 million home," DaSilva says. She shares that currently there are less than 30 homes under $500,000 in the city.

Here's a full list of the median home prices for cities across the desert, according to the March report from the Greater Palm Springs Realtors Desert housing report.

1. Desert Hot Springs — $383,253
2. Coachella — $487,965
3. Cathedral City — $553,132
4. Indio — $626,989
5. Palm Desert — $734,922
6. La Quinta — $892,229
7. Palm Springs — $1,103,493
8. Rancho Mirage — $1,407,867
9. Indian Wells — $2,227,920