LA Real Estate Advice: California July Home Sales

Westside LA Real Estate Advice: An estimated 35,202 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was down 19.9 percent from 43,964 in June, and down 21.9 percent from 45,079 for July 2009. California sales for the month of July have varied from a low of 30,596 in 1995 to a peak of 71,186 in 2004, the average is 47,093. MDA DataQuick’s statistics go back to 1988.

The median price paid for a home last month was $268,000, down 0.7 percent from $270,000 in June, and up 7.2 percent from $250,000 for July a year ago. The year-over-year increase was the ninth in a row, following 27 months of year-over-year decline. The bottom of the current cycle was $221,000 in April 2009, while the peak median was $484,000 in early 2007.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 35.6 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was up from a revised 34.1 percent in June and down from 43.5 percent in July a year ago. The all-time high was in February 2009 at 58.5 percent.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,094. That was down from $1,125 in June, and down from $1,101 in July 2009. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s mortgage payment was 49.4 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 59.0 percent below the current cycle’s peak in June 2006.

MDA DataQuick is a division of MDA Lending Solutions, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. MDA 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 off peak levels but remains high by historical standards. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, cash and non-owner occupied buying is up, MDA DataQuick reported.

Source: DQNews.com