Posts Tagged ‘house sales’

Home sales increased 35.2 percent in May in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home declined 30.4 percent, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported on June 25th.

The statewide median price of an existing single-family home increased 4.2 percent in May to $267,570, compared with April 2009.

C.A.R.’s Unsold Inventory Index fell to 4.2 months in May, compared with 8.7 months in May 2008.

“With affordability for first-time buyers at a record high, sales of existing, single-family homes continued to remain above the 500,000 level for the ninth consecutive month,” said C.A.R. President James Liptak. “Buyers are beginning to realize that the combination of favorable home prices, historically low mortgage rates, and first-time home buyer tax credits, may not align again for many years.

LA Times Reported on June 25th:

Southern California home prices may have finally hit bottom, with median values rising last month for the first significant increase in two years, new data show.

“I think we can now say with fair degree of confidence the pace of real home price declines has slowed dramatically,” said Los Angeles economist Christopher Thornberg, who was an early predictor of the housing bubble.

Now, however, some sellers “are realizing the market’s not going to just bounce back” and are starting to sell homes for less than they had recently hoped to get, said T.J. Culbertson, a Beverly Hills real estate broker.

The percentage of homes that sold in June for more than $500,000 rose to about 20% of all homes purchased, up from 18% in May.

In a positive sign, only 45% of the homes sold had been foreclosed upon, DataQuick said, the lowest percentage since July 2008. Foreclosures peaked at 57% of total sales in February, and in May still accounted for half of home sales.