Southern California Highest Sales … Prices Still Falling
DataQuick Information Systems just reported that across the six counties of Southern California it was the highest level of sales in almost a year. The median sales price in July was $260,000 in Riverside County and $230,000 in San Bernardino County. Both represent declines of about $10,000 to $15,000 in the last month.
John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president said: "What we're looking at is a fire sale of properties in newer affordable neighborhoods that were bought or refinanced near the price peak with lousy mortgages."
Also, First American CoreLogic reported that its monthly home price index fell 10.7 percent in June, as the U.S. housing market copes with a historic slump.
The biggest drop was seen in the Los Angeles area, where prices fell by 26.5 percent. Prices fell by 26.1 percent in the Riverside, Calif., area.
Drops of more than 20 percent were seen in areas in that were flooded with speculators during the housing boom and have been hit hardest by the bust.
Those include: Oakland and San Diego, Calif, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach areas in Florida. San Diego CA real estate agents
Pending Sales Of Existing Homes Fall To All-Time Record Low
The National Association of Realtors' seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 84.6 from January's upwardly revised reading of 86.2. The index stood at 107.6 in February 2007.
The February index was the lowest reading since the index began, signaling the housing market distress is far from over.A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001, when the index started. The previous low was August's reading of 85.8, recorded at the height of the credit crunch.
Always putting a positive spin on an negative news, the national association of Realtors chief economist, said: “Existing home sales could start to show a sustained increase within a few months, unless there are some additional economic problems or excessive inflationary pressure. We’re looking for essentially stable sales in the near term, before higher mortgage loan limits translate into more sales in high-cost markets. The wider access to affordable credit should increase sales activity notably this summer as pent-up demand begins to be met.”