FREE Lowes 10% Coupons and Termite Report for clients at www.JasonKardos.com
By STU WOO
SAN FRANCISCO -- California's median price for an existing single-family house rose for the third straight
month, a sign that the state's battered real-estate market may be bottoming out.
The median sales price increased to $267,570 in May for a California home, an increase of 4.2% from April,
according to a report released Thursday by the California Association of Realtors. The inventory of unsold
houses continued to drop, to 4.2 months' supply in May compared with 4.6 months in April and 8.7 months
in May 2008. Prices were still well below their year-ago levels, down 30.4% compared with May 2008.
One explanation for the increase in housing prices is that fewer foreclosed properties are among those being
sold, said Kirk Lesh, an economist for California Lutheran University's Center for Economic Research and
Forecasting. Banks tend to sell foreclosed houses at lower prices than do people selling their own homes.
California's real-estate market, the nation's largest, is seen as a barometer of the U.S. economy. Housing
prices soared during the boom, and their plummet during the market's collapse resulted in massive
foreclosures and fueled the recession. Economists say the state's housing market will lag behind the nation's
in recovering, so any indication of improvement in California bodes well for the rest of the U.S.
With Thursday's report, real-estate experts said they were a bit more optimistic that the California market is
healing. But they warned that the state's 11.5% unemployment rate could result in more foreclosures and
drive down real-estate prices again, as could lawmakers' plan to slash more than $10 billion from state
spending to close a $24 billion deficit.
The budget proposals include laying off thousands of state workers and cutting health and welfare programs
for millions of Californians, as well as raising taxes. If enacted, they would further batter the state economy
and, consequently, the housing market, said Mr. Lesh, the economist.
The Realtors' report also said that 556,590 California houses were sold in May, up 35.2% from a year earlier.
Sales may increase in coming months because prospective buyers believe the market is at a bottom, said
Robert Bridges, a professor at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. "The 'buy'
decision would be a wise one right now because those pricing levels are getting attractive," he said.
Home Prices Rise in California Again - WSJ.com Page 1 of 2
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597490775357441.html 6/26/2009
Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A4
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by
copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit
www.djreprints.com
Comments(0)