California Association of Realtors: March home sales increase; prices down
April 28th, 2009 Categories: Real Estate News
- Sales up 63.8 percent compared to a year ago
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Prices down 39 percent
Based on information collected by CAR from more than 90 local Realtor associations, the study does not include every county or information from non-Realtor sources, such as foreclosure sales.
According to CAR’s survey the median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California for the month of March was $253,040, a 39 percent decrease from the revised $414,520 median for March 2008.
The March 2009 median price actually rose 2.2 percent compared with February’s $247,590 median price.
“The statewide median price showed the first monthly increase since August 2007, and has remained in the $250,000 range over the past three months,” says CAR Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. “A number of regions around the state also have registered monthly gains for one or more months since the beginning of this year. While these are welcome signs, it remains to be seen whether home prices have stabilized.
Appleton-Young continues; “While we still face continued weakness in the general economy and expect continued foreclosures, the increased incidence of multiple offers indicates that first-time home buyers and investors are responding to dramatically improved housing affordability.”
Statewide, inventory is declining; CAR’s unsold inventory index for existing, single-family detached homes in March 2009 was 5 months, compared with 12.2 months (revised) for the same period a year ago. This index tracks the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate, if no additional homes were listed for sale.
Average Days on the Market was 48.3 days in March 2009, compared with 56.8 days (revised) for the same period a year ago.
