June 14, 2012
An estimated 41,790 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month. That was up 9.3 percent from 38,241 in April, and up 17.6 percent from 35,536 in May 2011. Last month's sales were the highest for any May since 54,099 homes sold in May 2006.
Sales have increased on a year-over-year basis for the past 10 months. California sales for the month of May have varied from a low of 32,223 in 1995 to a high of 67,958 in 2004, while the average is 46,638. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.
The median price paid for a home in California last month was $270,000, up 2.3 percent from $264,000 in April, and up 8.4 percent from $249,000 in May 2011. Last month’s median was the highest for any month since June 2010, when it was also $270,000. Last month was the third month in a row to post a year-over-year gain in the state’s median sale price. 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 46.2 percent of the state’s resale market last month. It was the lowest level since the figure was also 46.2 percent in April 2008.
Of the existing homes sold in May, 28.3 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from 30.3 percent in April and down from 35.3 percent a year ago. 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. California’s all-time high for foreclosure resales was 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 the same as the month before and up from 17.6 percent a year earlier.
The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,006. That was up from $997 the prior month and down from $1,026 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 55.9 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 64.3 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 is high, but not increasing. 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
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