I'm Back..... Dec sales report

Dec sales were better than I thought they would be but that may just be a bunch of sales being pushed through so that they fall into the 2008 tax year. January's and February's numbers will let us know if the unexpected rise was a fluke or not. The cheaper homes are selling quite well. I've been watching the low end stuff out in Perris and Moval and it's selling pretty quickly if it's priced well. Most of these sales though are investor sales so they are "one and done". Meaning they do not generate another sale from the buyer selling thier home. The upper end of the market is still pretty dead.

Here's the meat of the Dec DataQuick report.

A total of 19,926 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 19.2 percent from 16,720 for November, and up 50.5 percent from 13,240 for December 2007, according to MDA DataQuick.

Regionwide, foreclosure resales accounted for 55.7 percent of December's resales activity, up from 54.7 percent in November, and up from 24.3 percent in December 2007.

A total of 1,813 newly-built homes were sold in December, easily the lowest number for that month in DataQuick's statistics. The December average since 1988 is 4,926. In December 2005 a total of 8,723 new homes were sold.

"The builders are in a holding pattern, staying alive until the market recovers. Mortgage interest rates last month were near record lows. Of course, that doesn't mean much if the money isn't actually being lent. It does look like the spigot is being opened a little bit, at least for low-cost home purchases," said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.

The most active lenders to Southland home buyers right now are Countrywide, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. MDA DataQuick will report more extensively on the home financing market next month.

The median price paid for a Southland home was $278,000 last month. That was down 2.5 percent from $285,000 for November, and down 34.6 percent from $425,000 for December a year ago. The median reached $505,000 in mid 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity waned in early fall but is edging higher again and remains near record levels, while financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is at an all-time low, as is financing with multiple mortgages. Down payment sizes and flipping rates are stable, non-owner occupied buying activity appears flat overall but is above-average in some markets, MDA DataQuick reported.

Los Angeles	4,430	5,848	32.0%	$470,000	$320,000	-31.90%
Orange	1,731	2,580	49.0%	$565,000	$397,000	-29.70%
Riverside	2,503	4,435	77.2%	$355,000	$209,000	-41.10%
San Bernardino	1,518	2,862	88.5%	$315,000	$180,000	-42.90%
San Diego	2,468	3,325	34.7%	$430,000	$300,000	-30.20%
Ventura	590	876	48.5%	$525,250	$338,000	-35.60%
SoCal	13,240	19,926	50.5%	$425,000	$278,000	-34.60%

Riverside's median fell from $220k in Nov to $209k in Dec. That is a whopping 5% in one month!

SanBerdu's median fell from $185K to $180k, and that's a healthy 3% in one month.

Some of that fall is surely due to the high percentage of low end properties that are selling but none the less that's a pretty stunning monthly drop.