Oakdale councilman sounds alarm over prices of new homes hitting market
OAKDALE – Brand new homes are hitting the market in one Stanislaus County community but are they pricing out the people who really need them?
"Developers are in the business of making money," Oakdale City Councilman Jarod Pitassi said.
Pitassi is sounding the alarm over new homes hitting the market in Oakdale. The asking prices are going as high as $1.6 million.
"Affordable houses are coming," Pitassi said. "Affordable houses are coming. There's only 30 houses for sale in town. What's coming from the housing development that's putting out houses right now? Is this affordable?"
The developer Tesoro purchased the annexed land 20 years ago.
Earlier this year, the City of Oakdale approved annexing nearly 300 acres just across the street from Toreso estates.
With plans to build over 800 new homes, Pitassi is the only city council member to vote against it. He says he's worried it will meet the same fate as the estates.
"That part of town, it's rolling hills, so they're going to put the bigger houses. I don't see small community houses being there," Piassi said.
"Demand is high," Oakdale realtor Adoni Martinez said. "We need homes. There's not enough homes and the fact that we're having new builds come in is huge."
Martinez said the promise of new housing is a necessity despite a slight increase in Oakdale's housing supply.
"We're still way below where we need to be," Martinez said.
She said homes listed at $450,000 or under are the highest in demand.
"I think people are a little more willing with that price range," Martinez said.
Pitassi worries multi-million dollar homes only cater to supercommuters, a demographic he went up against when he bought his home in 2019.
"I'm asking my realtor, 'Who the heck's buying all these little ranchettes out here?' And they said well, 'A lot of people from the Bay Area, they want this lifestyle,'" Pitassi said.
Pitassi is a fourth-generation Oakdale resident.
"We're building to suit people to come into town, not people that are already in town and want to buy a house, or the next generation wants to buy a house," Pitassi said. "What makes most sense for the city? You know, Oakdale, unfortunately, doesn't have a lot of retail."
But Martinez said new retail is exactly what drives property rates up.
"If you have new businesses coming into the area, that does because it creates a demand, people are excited and they want to move to the area," Martinez said.
"Yes, Oakdale needs to grow, but responsibly," Pitassi said.
