Friday, April 25, 2008

Going down......The March report from CAR





Here's the highlights from the march report from the California association of realtors.

LOS ANGELES (April 25) – Home sales decreased 24.5 percent in March in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home fell 29 percent, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported today.

“Sales continue to be impacted by problems in the real estate finance sector, which by some measures have eroded since the start of the year,” said C.A.R. President William E. Brown. “Sales in 2007 reached their peak last February; going forward, the year-to-year declines in sales should shrink.”

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled 318,830 in March at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations statewide. Statewide home resale activity decreased 24.5 percent from the revised 422,300 sales pace recorded in March 2007.

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during March 2008 was $413,980, a 29 percent decrease from the revised $582,930 median for March 2007, C.A.R. reported. The March 2008 median price fell 1.3 percent compared with February’s revised $419,640 median price.

Highlights of C.A.R.’s resale housing figures for March 2008:

  • C.A.R.’s Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes in March 2008 was 11.6 months, compared with 7.6 months for the same period a year ago. The index indicates the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate.
  • · Thirty-year fixed-mortgage interest rates averaged 5.97 percent during March 2008, compared with 6.16 percent in March 2007, according to Freddie Mac. Adjustable-mortgage interest rates averaged 5.12 percent in March 2008, compared with 5.44 percent in March 2007.
  • · The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home was 56.7 days in March 2008, compared with 52.9 for the same period a year ago.
Median Price down 29%...Check!
Sales Down 24.5%..............Check!

Yup, things are looking up. I'm sure Lawrence Yun will be putting out a press release any day now telling us all "there's never been a better time to buy".

Wouldn't it be nice to see a report that was reality based. Just once I'd like to read, "sales declined 24.5% from last year and the median price declined 29% because prices are still way too high. The California Association of realturds estimate that prices will need to fall another 25% before homes become affordable again."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think your right about it going to $100 to $110 a foot in these half built tracks, I just which it was now instead of November -December. If I wait until then I have to move twice and spend 12k on rent to live in a nice house for 6 months plus what it will probably cost with the rates going up a little. You would think of the banks(or private owners wanted to move their inventory they would price ahead of the curve, god knows it's costing them money to keep it.
The short sales seem like a joke, I've gotten no response on 5 in 45 days working with the listing agent...nothing. Several bank owned have not responded either. One REO dropped the price from 530k to 490k, which was pretty good but it was overpriced and since has not resonded to my counter. I like LakeHills, the Retreat( but I'm a little more leery of the taxes after reading your blog)and some of the other south-west Corona area. What do you think about Skyranch?
I guess this weekend I'll check out Bridgeport again, it would be better for my brakes than Lakehills but I'm not sure about Victoria Grove. I know it's going lowerand it's going to stay there for a while but as it will be my primary residence I'd like to put it to bed.
Thanks again for the stats and feed back.

Santa Ana River Rat said...

For those of you wondering what the tax of your new home could be, you can search the data here

https://taxpayments.co.riverside.ca.us/Search.aspx

If you look at the MLS listing detail you should see APN number. plug the number in then you should be able to look up what kind of tax you'd be facing. That'll give you a clearer picture of what you can afford.

For example, new housing tract near the corner of Main and Ontario will cost you cool $3000 extra tax a year on top of your prop 13 tax. So just factor that amount into your monthly mortgage and see if you really want to pay on top of your $4500 (assuming most homes around there are selling around $400k) because unlike prop 13 tax, these special taxes are usually not tax deductible.

Anonymous said...

That's a lot of take home pay..och.
Thanks

Bigdog said...

http://www.mytaxcollector.com/trSearch.aspx

This is the San Bernardino Tax information link.
Input the APN number or address