Some California Housing Markets More At Risk Should Recession Hit

California has several of the most vulnerable housing markets should another recession hit, but new research shows it's not all bad news.

Real estate data firm Redfin looked at the 50 largest housing markets in the United States, ranking them from lowest risk to highest based on seven factors including price volatility, number of flips and employment diversity.

The findings were not encouraging for Southern California.

"Riverside was the most vulnerable market, partially because people tend to not have much equity in their homes," said Daryl Fairweather, the company's chief economist. 

Fairweather says San Diego wasn't far behind at No. 47, and L.A., No. 43.

In Northern California, Sacramento was the most vulnerable city — 40th on the list.

Fairweather says equity isn't strong there either, but the city doesn’t have much volatility.

"So home prices tend to be a bit more stable than Riverside,” Fairweather said. “And it also has a smaller share of exports, so if there was a trade war, Sacramento wouldn't be quite as vulnerable."

Among the markets with the lowest risk, California had none in the top 10, but San Francisco came in at 15.

Fairweather says that's mainly because home owners have a lot of equity there.

On a bright note statewide, she says should a recession hit, it's unlikely housing markets would crash like they did the last time around.