For the Cheapest Homes in SoCal, Look to the Inland Empire

Where to find the cheapest homes in Southern California, with a price between $400,000 and $600,000 and a monthly payment less than $4,000?

A study of the 25 lowest-priced neighborhoods in Southern California found the answer is almost anywhere but Los Angeles and Orange counties, the Orange County Register reported.

Home buyers looking for a more affordable first home can look no further than the farthest reaches of the Inland Empire, meaning pockets of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where a median priced home can go for less than $400,000.

Consider Green Valley Lake, which had the cheapest listings in September.

The community in the San Bernardino Mountains about halfway between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake had a $394,450 median asking price for 32 home listings. Supply was up 220 percent in a year.

Or consider Adelanto, a cash-strapped Mojave desert town in San Bernardino County known for its prisons and immigration detention center, dubbed “The City with Unlimited Possibilities.” Last summer, its former mayor was sentenced to federal prison for accepting bribes from pot-related businesses.

A typical home this fall in Adelanto asked $399,999, with 47 for sale.

In Helendale, on historic Route 66 in the desert north of Victorville, a typical home asked $417,500, with 62 for sale. In Running Springs, on the twisty Rim of the World Highway south of Green Valley Lake, a typical home asked $434,500 with 60 for sale.

In Banning, “Stagecoach Town USA,” in the San Gorgonio Pass northwest of Palm Springs, a median priced home was $435,000, with 41 for sale.

Other typical homes in the 25 lowest-priced neighborhoods in September included Apple Valley ($442,000); Yucca Valley ($449,900); Victorville ($450,000); Hemet ($450,000), Twin Peaks ($477,000); San Jacinto ($484,990); Pinon Hills ($484,999); Hesperia ($489,999); Wrightwood ($492,450); and Desert Hot Springs ($495,000).

Other lower-priced neighborhoods include San Bernardino ($510,000); Colton ($525,000); Phelan ($527,450); Joshua Tree ($530,000); Beaumont ($548,365); Coachella ($549,490); Highland ($570,000); Perris ($587,126); Rialto ($593,522); and Lake Elsinore ($594,900).

The share of houses for sale asking less than $500,0000 in September included 1,218 listings (47 percent of inventory) in San Bernardino County; 590 listings (20 percent of inventory) in Riverside County; 281 listings (6 percent of inventory) in Los Angeles County; and five listings (0.3 percent of inventory) in OC.

— Dana Bartholomew