California June Home Sales

July 18, 2012

An estimated 41,027 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month. That was down 1.8 percent from 41,790 sales in May, and up 5.3 percent from 38,975 sales in June 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

While sales have increased on a year-over-year basis every month since July last year, they are still below the historic norm. Last month’s sales were 17.5 percent lower than the average number of sales during the month of June – 49,753 – since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. June sales in California have varied from a low of 35,202 in 2008 to a high of 76,669 in 2004.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $274,000, up 1.5 percent from $270,000 in May, and up 8.3 percent from $253,000 in June 2011. Last month’s median was the highest for any month since May 2010, when it was $278,000. June marked the fourth consecutive month in which the state’s median sale price rose year-over-year. For the current housing cycle, the median hit a trough of $221,000 in April 2009, while it peaked at $484,000 in early 2007.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up 43.1 percent of the state’s resale market last month. It was the lowest level since the figure was 37.3 percent in January 2008.

Of the existing homes sold in June, 25.0 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from a revised 28.5 percent in May and down from 35.1 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest for any month since foreclosure resales made up 23.7 percent of the resale market in December 2007. Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.5 percent in February 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.1 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was up from 17.9 the month before and up from 17.5 percent year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,006. That was unchanged from the prior month. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 55.6 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 64.0 percent below the 2006 peak of the current cycle.

DataQuick 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 remains high by historical standards but well below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and cash and non-owner-occupied buying remains at a high level, DataQuick reported.

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

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com