How old are houses in SLO County? New report finds majority of local homes built decades ago
San Luis Obispo County is home to a high volume of old homes with old bones, a recent study found.
According to a new study published by Construction Coverage, housing in the United States is getting both older and more expensive on average, and San Luis Obispo County is no exception.
The median age of a San Luis Obispo County home is around 39 years old, with half of the region’s housing stock being constructed before 1983, the study found.
In that respect, San Luis Obispo County’s notoriously tight housing inventory is much like the rest of the country, ranking 131st out of 364 metro areas included in the study.
San Luis Obispo County also had an above-average share of homes built prior to 1940 compared to other metro areas, ranking 160th with 4.6% built in that time period.
On the other end of the age spectrum, just 9.5% of the county’s homes were built in the years since 2010, the study found.
San Luis Obispo County ranked 136th in percentage of homes built since 2010 overall. Around 9.5% of the county’s homes were built in the intervening years.
The county’s housing stock fell in line with most of California’s housing inventory age statistics, closely aligning with the state’s median home age of 45, which ranked 14th nationally.
Massachusetts topped the list of states with the oldest homes, with a median age of 58.
Median home age has risen steeply in recent years, climbing from 30 years in 2000.
The study attributed the spike in median home age to a slowdown in new homes coming onto the market in recent decades, citing a realtor.com report that found the country is short between 2.3 million and 6.5 million housing units compared to demand.
This story was originally published January 15, 2024 at 10:00 AM.
