In the first half of 2008, as the global financial system was crashing, 169,946 homes were sold across California.

In 2025’s first six months, only 158,086 residences were bought — 7% below real estate’s ugliest era.

This is a stark reminder, courtesy of my trusty spreadsheet, of the depths of the recent homebuying collapse. Using sales data from Attom it studied a broad swath of closed transactions, including houses and condos, both existing residences and newly constructed.

Consider how the pandemic era has altered homebuying by examining some simple math: ranking first-half sales since 2005.

California in 2024 had its lowest sales count to start any year. The second-slowest start was 2023. This year was the third-slowest, with 2020 at No. 4.

And bubble-bursting 2008? No. 5.

Let’s

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