A California city known for its stunning landscapes and easy transportation connections is one of the last affordable places to buy in the Bay Area.
While median home prices in San Francisco have surpassed the million-dollar mark, Bay Point offers the opportunity to purchase a property for a fraction of that price.
The city of 24,000 is located in Contra Costa County, just over an hour from the Golden Gate City by BART train.
And although Zillow data indicates that home prices have increased nearly 27 percent since 2020, Bay Point remains comparatively affordable.
“Since I moved here, I have no desire to live on the Peninsula,” new resident and first-time buyer Florence Arkin told the magazine. San Francisco Chronicle.
Bay Point is quickly becoming one of the last affordable places to shop in the Bay Area, with its pretty coastline represented here.
The city has green hills like this one to the east and biodiverse swamps to the north.
The city of 24,000 is located in Contra Costa County, just over an hour from the Golden Gate City by BART train.
He purchased a 2,200-square-foot property before it even hit the market.
“I felt like if I didn’t get in when I got in, it would be impossible (later),” the single mother of two added.
Like many, Arkin had been pushed out of more central areas amid soaring house price inflation.
A typical Bay Point home currently sells for $541,000, less than half of the $1.2 million homes in the San Francisco metropolitan area.
But you can still get even bigger bargains. A Zillow listing for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom property with a spacious porch is listed for just $229,000.
Meanwhile, a “meticulously maintained” three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is currently on the market for below average, just under $500,000.
Rising housing prices in Bay Point are a reflection of increased demand, which has remained high since the pandemic.
Remote workers who no longer needed access to the office found they could get more space for their money by heading to the quiet city.
This two-bedroom, two-bathroom home is for sale in Bay Point for $220,000
At less than $500,000, this three-bedroom property costs less than half the cost of an average home in the San Francisco metropolitan area.
While comparatively affordable, the price of a typical home has skyrocketed 27% over the past four years, according to Zillow.
While value for money is what attracts many homeowners, Bay Point has a host of other attractions.
The city boasts a stunning landscape, including green hills to the east and biodiverse swamps to the north.
Easily accessible is the Bay Point Regional Coast, offering fishing, bird watching and panoramic views of Suisun Bay.
The BART station also ensures residents are well connected, although commuters working in Oakland or San Francisco could face round trips of up to three hours.
Although the city has a Walgreens and a few supermarkets among its stores, most people head to the shopping centers in nearby Concord and Pittsburg, just a fifteen-minute drive away.
However, increasing demand for property in Bay Point has some residents concerned about gentrification.
Bay Point’s only high school closed in 1976 and many people living in the area struggle to find work in the city and have to travel to other parts of the county to work.
Lifelong local Eduardo Torres told the San Francisco Chronicle that the area has “potential” with the right investment.
The BART station is a major draw for new residents, along with shopping centers in neighboring cities.
‘What does (people moving here) mean in terms of the long-term effects of this community?’ Torres said. ‘Is that going to expel us? … We’re kind of stuck here waiting to see what happens.”
Nearly half of Bay Point residents are renters, and many fear that landlords seeking to profit from inflated resale prices will drive them out or evict them from the city’s higher-paying tenants.
But the lack of new housing in the Bay Area means potential buyers will have no choice but to keep looking further afield, according to Daryl Fairweather, senior economist at Redfin.
Housing in California became so expensive last year that San Francisco residents were willing to spend $900 on a 4-foot pod to live in.
The housing crisis sparked mass migration out of the state: 500,000 more people left in a two-year period than arrived.
Brownstone Shared Housing came up with a creative “solution” to expensive housing with its community living pods.
Each module measures 3.5 feet wide and 4 feet high, barely big enough to fit a double mattress and not tall enough to stand on.
The idea for small capsule homes came from the Japanese “coffin house,” which was Tokyo’s solution to housing the unemployed during the country’s 2009 recession.