Leslie Appleton-Young

The California Association of REALTORS®

Leslie Appleton-Young serves as senior vice president and chief economist for the California Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.), a statewide trade organization with more than 195,000 members.

Appleton-Young, who joined C.A.R. in 1984, directs the strategic thinking for the association, guiding the research and economics team as they collect primary data through survey research, multiple listing services and other sources to analyze and interpret trends, and foster understanding of the economic and housing market landscape.

Making a positive impact on the lives of REALTORS® and homeowners alike, Appleton-Young is a wellknown speaker in California’s real estate community. She has served on the State Controller’s Council of Economic Advisors and is the co-founder, along with C.A.R. Vice President Sara Sutachan, of WomanUp!®, the national initiative to support women in brokerage.

Appleton-Young has overseen the development of other key programs, such as the Diversity Initiative, designed to increase Black and Latino homeownership and build relationships with cultural groups in the state while promoting equitable access to homeownership. She was also highly involved in the creation of the Housing Affordability Fund, C.A.R.’s philanthropic arm, working with the association’s political advocacy efforts to promote homeownership for first-time homebuyers and low-to-moderate-income buyers.

As chief economist for C.A.R., Appleton-Young closely tracked the effects of the pandemic in C.A.R.’s “2021 California Housing Market Forecast,” released last October. “While home prices rose sharply in 2020, driven by strong sales of higher-priced properties and a limited inventory of homes for sale, the pace of price growth will be more moderate in the coming year,” said Appleton-Young in an RISMedia report. “The uncertainty about the pandemic, sluggish economic growth, a rise in foreclosures, and the volatility of the stock market are all unknown factors that could keep prices in check.”

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Leslie Appleton-Young