California November Home Sales

December 14, 2011

An estimated 32,669 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was down 4.2 percent from 34,087 in October, and up 4.0 percent from 31,403 for November 2010. California sales for the month of November have varied from a low of 25,578 in 2007 to a high of 60,326 in 2004, while the average is 39,682. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.

The median price paid for a home last month was $244,000, up 1.7 percent from $240,000 in October, and down 4.3 percent from $255,000 for November a year ago. The median has decreased on a year-over-year basis for the last 14 months. The median’s low point for the current cycle was $221,000 in April 2009, while the peak was $484,000 in early 2007.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – continued to make up more than half of California’s resale market.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 33.5 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from 34.0 percent in October and down from 37.6 percent in November a year ago. The all-time high for foreclosure resales was in February 2009 at 58.5 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 20.1 percent of resales last month. That was up from 19.4 percent in October and 17.6 percent a year earlier. Two years ago short sales made up an estimated 16.4 percent of the resale market.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $931. That was up from $924 in October, which was the lowest since at least 1988. Last month’s figure was down from $1,010 for November 2010. Adjusted for inflation it was 58.5 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 66.4 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.

DataQuick Information Systems monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity is high, but not increasing. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, cash and non-owner occupied buying is flat at a high level, DataQuick reported.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or alepage@dqnews.com

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com