When Does California Land Increase In Value?

Simple supply and demand economics shows that the opposite holds true when people begin to leave an area. For example, when the devastative Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans, Louisiana, it caused the real estate market there to crash because everyone had to flee.
Knowledge of population patterns is very important to buy land California and sell land California. The chart below shows how the total population of California has increased at an average rate of over 1% a year between 2001-2004.
California State Population Statistics 2001-2004:
| 2001 | 2002 | % Change | 2003 | % Change | 2004 | % Change | Average Growth Rate over 3 Years | |
| California | 34532163 | 34988261 | 01.32% | 35462712 | 01.36% | 35893799 | 01.22% | 01.30% |
California's growth rate of over 1.3% shows that more people are moving into California than are leaving. As a result, the price of land continues to rise everywhere. However, even if this ceased to continue there will always be certain areas where California land will increase in value.
Looking at Land Lots for Sale California by County Population Statistics 2001-2004:
The following chart below shows the population growth patterns for land lots for sale California by the 20 biggest counties in the state:
Largest 20 Counties in the state of California by Percent of Los Angeles
| 2 | Top 20 | County Name | 2004 | % size of Los Angeles County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | Los Angeles County | 9937739 | 100.00% |
| 4 | 2 | Orange County | 2987591 | 30.06% |
| 5 | 3 | San Diego County | 2931714 | 29.50% |
| 6 | 4 | San Bernardino County | 1921131 | 19.33% |
| 7 | 5 | Riverside County | 1871950 | 18.84% |
| 8 | 6 | Santa Clara County | 1685188 | 16.96% |
| 9 | 7 | Alameda County | 1455235 | 14.64% |
| 10 | 8 | Sacramento County | 1352445 | 13.61% |
| 11 | 9 | Contra Costa County | 1009144 | 10.15% |
| 12 | 10 | Fresno County | 866772 | 08.72% |
| 13 | 11 | Ventura County | 797699 | 08.03% |
| 14 | 12 | San Francisco County | 744230 | 07.49% |
| 15 | 13 | Kern County | 734846 | 07.39% |
| 16 | 14 | San Mateo County | 699216 | 07.04% |
| 17 | 15 | San Joaquin County | 649868 | 06.54% |
| 18 | 16 | Stanislaus County | 498355 | 05.01% |
| 19 | 17 | Sonoma County | 468450 | 04.71% |
| 20 | 18 | Monterey County | 414629 | 04.17% |
| 21 | 19 | Solano County | 412970 | 04.16% |
| 22 | 20 | Santa Barbara County | 401851 | 04.04% |
Notice how Los Angeles county real estate dwarfs the other counties by the size of its population. Orange County real estate holds the second largest population size. Southern California real estate as a whole has 6 for 6 counties on the list of most populated counties in California, however 7-10 is dominated by counties in the Northern California real estate hemisphere, so they are right there too. The weather is what continues to be the deciding factor for people moving to Southern California.
The next chart below shows the population growth trends for the state of California by the top 20 fastest growing counties:
Top 20 Fastest Growing Counties in the state of California
| 53 | Top 20 | County Name | 2001 | 2002 | % Change | 2003 | % Change | 2004 | % Change | Average Growth Rateover 3 Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | 1 | Placer County | 264874 | 279011 | 05.34% | 293630 | 05.24% | 307004 | 04.55% | 05.04% |
| 55 | 2 | Riverside County | 1620834 | 1694623 | 04.55% | 1782822 | 05.20% | 1871950 | 05.00% | 04.92% |
| 56 | 3 | Madera County | 125880 | 128815 | 02.33% | 133696 | 03.79% | 138951 | 03.93% | 03.35% |
| 57 | 4 | Calaveras County | 41774 | 43143 | 03.28% | 44727 | 03.67% | 45939 | 02.71% | 03.22% |
| 58 | 5 | San Joaquin County | 593079 | 612564 | 03.29% | 631876 | 03.15% | 649868 | 02.85% | 03.10% |
| 59 | 6 | San Bernardino County | 1765578 | 1808893 | 02.45% | 1862195 | 02.95% | 1921131 | 03.16% | 02.85% |
| 60 | 7 | Kern County | 675859 | 693060 | 02.55% | 713445 | 02.94% | 734846 | 03.00% | 02.83% |
| 61 | 8 | Merced County | 218189 | 224934 | 03.09% | 231397 | 02.87% | 237005 | 02.42% | 02.80% |
| 62 | 9 | Sutter County | 80138 | 82247 | 02.63% | 84670 | 02.95% | 86760 | 02.47% | 02.68% |
| 63 | 10 | Kings County | 131935 | 134543 | 01.98% | 138708 | 03.10% | 142561 | 02.78% | 02.62% |
| 64 | 11 | Tulare County | 374023 | 381280 | 01.94% | 391084 | 02.57% | 401502 | 02.66% | 02.39% |
| 65 | 12 | El Dorado County | 161397 | 165767 | 02.71% | 169199 | 02.07% | 172889 | 02.18% | 02.32% |
| 66 | 13 | Stanislaus County | 465287 | 480233 | 03.21% | 491014 | 02.24% | 498355 | 01.50% | 02.32% |
| 67 | 14 | Sacramento County | 1266480 | 1301716 | 02.78% | 1330730 | 02.23% | 1352445 | 01.63% | 02.21% |
| 68 | 15 | Fresno County | 814688 | 832057 | 02.13% | 850650 | 02.23% | 866772 | 01.90% | 02.09% |
| 69 | 16 | Lake County | 60611 | 62274 | 02.74% | 63397 | 01.80% | 64446 | 01.65% | 02.07% |
| 70 | 17 | Shasta County | 167269 | 171923 | 02.78% | 175654 | 02.17% | 177816 | 01.23% | 02.06% |
| 71 | 18 | Colusa County | 19138 | 19370 | 01.21% | 19755 | 01.99% | 20339 | 02.96% | 02.05% |
| 72 | 19 | Imperial County | 143715 | 145702 | 01.38% | 148924 | 02.21% | 152448 | 02.37% | 01.99% |
| 73 | 20 | Tehama County | 56816 | 57652 | 01.47% | 58892 | 02.15% | 60075 | 02.01% | 01.88% |
The noticable trend is that the counties closest to the real estate in Los Angeles County CA and the San Francisco Bay area experienced the most growth. Placer County and Riverside County real estate are the top two areas with the fastest population increases in recent years, growing at an average pace of about 5% a year. Both are adjacent to the major metroplis centers Los Angeles and San Francisco. Placer County is adjacent to the Bay area and Sacramento County CA. Riverside land CA is a stone's throw from Los Angeles County land. The top 3-5 spots (Madera County CA, Calaveras County CA, and San Joaquin CA) are also in Northern California farther out from the expensive San Francisco area. They enjoy an average growth rate of about 3%. The 6-7 spots still around 3% growth a year (San Bernardindo County CA real estate and Kern County real estate) are attached to the The next chart below shows the population growth patterns for the state of California by the top 20 slowest growing counties: The most noticable pattern is the exodus from San Francisco County CA real estate. "Your prices are killing me Larry!" That's because the average price of a home in San Francisco in 2006 was above $650,000. Out of all the counties in California, San Francisco had the worst population growth rate at negative 1%. Yet, I can vouch for those going to the county, because the views are spectacular in San Francisco and the people are great, they are very smart and stylishly astute. Stylishly.... hmmm Is that a word? Maybe it will be legit some day! Santa Barbara in Southern California also experienced a decrease in population size probably for the same reason as San Francisco, wow what a beautiful place Santa Barbara has become, and by the way it tops the list of the best luxury homes in California with the highest average sales price for California homes in the Southern California region at $1,190,000. Top 20 Slowest Growing Counties in the state of California
77 Bottom 20 County Name 2001 2002 % Change 2003 % Change 2004 % Change Average Growth Rateover 3 Years 78 1 San Benito County 54994 55686 01.26% 56187 00.90% 56243 00.10% 00.75% 79 2 Plumas County 20901 21012 00.53% 21198 00.89% 21359 00.76% 00.73% 80 3 Solano County 404555 409503 01.22% 411636 00.52% 412970 00.32% 00.69% 81 4 Mendocino County 86946 87599 00.75% 88476 01.00% 88551 00.08% 00.61% 82 5 Siskiyou County 44109 44231 00.28% 44630 00.90% 44891 00.58% 00.59% 83 6 Monterey County 408258 411578 00.81% 414423 00.69% 414629 00.05% 00.52% 84 7 San Luis Obispo County 250867 252055 00.47% 253072 00.40% 254566 00.59% 00.49% 85 8 Humboldt County 126695 127424 00.58% 127908 00.38% 128529 00.49% 00.48% 86 9 Inyo County 17997 18299 01.68% 18364 00.36% 18244 -00.65% 00.46% 87 10 Sonoma County 465724 465902 00.04% 467304 00.30% 468450 00.25% 00.19% 88 11 Santa Barbara County 400816 401481 00.17% 402795 00.33% 401851 -00.23% 00.09% 89 12 Santa Clara County 1690090 1674598 -00.92% 1675915 00.08% 1685188 00.55% -00.09% 90 13 Marin County 248399 247191 -00.49% 246635 -00.22% 246045 -00.24% -00.32% 91 14 Mono County 12897 12997 00.78% 12831 -01.28% 12766 -00.51% -00.34% 92 15 Alameda County 1470528 1463948 -00.45% 1458749 -00.36% 1455235 -00.24% -00.35% 93 16 Sierra County 3528 3499 -00.82% 3546 01.34% 3490 -01.58% -00.35% 94 17 Alpine County 1204 1216 01.00% 1188 -02.30% 1190 00.17% -00.38% 95 18 San Mateo County 707417 701271 -00.87% 699094 -00.31% 699216 00.02% -00.39% 96 19 Santa Cruz County 255339 253352 -00.78% 251725 -00.64% 250633 -00.43% -00.62% 97 20 San Francisco County 774479 761983 -01.61% 751908 -01.32% 744230 -01.02% -01.32%

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