Southland home sales dropped for the third month in a row amid renewed doubts about a market that is recovering in fits and starts. The median price moved up on a year-over-year basis for the tenth month in a row and has regained about one-fifth of its peak-to-trough loss. The effects on the market of the latest chapter in the foreclosure crisis are unclear, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 18,091 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in September. That was down 2.4 percent from 18,541 in August, and down 16.0 percent from 21,539 for September 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
This was the slowest September since 2007, when 12,455 homes were sold. Last month’s sales were 26.3 percent lower than the September average of 24,578. DataQuick’s statistics begin in 1988. An August-to-September drop is normal for the season: On average, sales have dipped 9.2 percent between those two months.
“Today’s market can be characterized as much by activity that’s not happening, as by the activity that is happening. We’re seeing distress-selling, bargain-hunting and entry-level buying, while the rest of the market is still largely on hold,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
| | Sales Volume | Median Price | ||||
| All homes | Sep-09 | Sep-10 | %Chng | Sep-09 | Sep-10 | %Chng |
| Los Angeles | 7,138 | 6,070 | -15.0% | $330,000 | $340,000 | 3.00% |
| Orange | 2,828 | 2,524 | -10.7% | $429,000 | $445,000 | 3.70% |
| Riverside | 4,312 | 3,292 | -23.7% | $185,000 | $200,000 | 8.10% |
| San Bernardino | 3,023 | 2,454 | -18.8% | $150,000 | $160,000 | 6.70% |
| San Diego | 3,454 | 3,069 | -11.1% | $325,000 | $330,500 | 1.70% |
| Ventura | 784 | 682 | -13.0% | $371,750 | $370,000 | -0.50% |
| SoCal | 21,539 | 18,091 | -16.0% | $275,000 | $295,500 | 7.50% |
3 comments:
Gonzola Lira writes in article Mulligan Mortgages – The Banks’ Only Way Out: ”A mulligan is a golf term. It’s when your first shot pretty much sucked—so your golf partner lets you take another shot, with no penalty. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, as it were. A way to keep a lazy Sunday afternoon game interesting.
Both the mortgage laden intermediate mutual bond funds, such as GSUAX, and the mortgage backed bond ETF, MBB, rose stunningly this last week, giving credence to the concept that the Fed is going to not only be buying short therm bonds, SHY, and those in Pimco’s Mint, MINT, but the mortgage backed bonds as well, in its QE II.
I appreciate Gonzola Lira's thoughts as they tie into what I believe we will see in the future.
The Dodd Frank legislation established a Federal Financial Regulator, that being the Treasury Secretary, and granted him wide discretionary power of the economy.
From the Robert Wenzel, EconomicPolicy Journal article Secret SEC Meeting with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, I conclude that in the US, through an October 6, 2010, meeting of bankers, investment bankers and SEC officials, that an elite group of stakeholders has arisen to act as a “banking, lending, credit, and investment Regulatory Council”, supporting the Financial Regulator in overseeing the US economy.
I believe that the Dodd Frank legislation, empowers the Federal Financial Regulator, to intervene in the foreclosure and mortgage securitization issue; and that at some point in the future he will provide a solution that integrates the banks with the Government in state corporate governance over housing, bandking, and mortgage securitization. Perhaps, Annaly Capital Management, NLY, may have a role to play, given that it has done so well in the Government debt field.
Perhaps this solution will involve purchase of mortgage backed securities, debt foregiveness, and leasing of bank owned properties.
And of course, the US Dollar, $USD, will go down in flames. All I can ask is: “Got Gold?” ... Yes one should definitely be invested in gold bullion.
Thanks for posting
Interesting post and comments. I wish I could afford gold. At today's prices I can't get much. Hoping that some in power will get their act together and help this economy out!
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