home prices are increasing
It's another boom waiting to bust. Prices are going down in certain areas and I would expect to see the trend continue and spread. Already you're seeing people taking their homes off the market because they aren't getting the price they want.
Southern California home sales hit a three-year low for the month of July and the region’s median home price dipped to $413,000, industry tracker CoreLogic DataQuick reported Wednesday.
Hampered by rising prices, a limited inventory and a decrease in investor activity, sales of new and existing homes and condos in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Orange and San Diego counties totaled 20,369 last month.
That was down 1.4 percent from June and down 12.4 percent from the 23,253 homes sold a year earlier.
The region’s median home price dipped 0.5 percent in July to $413,000, although it was up 7.3 percent from the year-ago price of $385,000.
The June 2014 median price of $415,000 for the six-county region was the highest since January 2008 when it also stood at $415,000.
CoreLogic DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said Southland home prices have gained significant ground.
“Prices came a long way in a couple of years, and now a lot of would-be buyers just can’t stretch their finances enough to buy in today’s more conservative lending environment,” LePage said. “That’s not the only reason price appreciation is easing, but it’s one of the main ones. July was the first month in two years in which all but one of the six Southland counties posted a single-digit year-over-year increase in its median sale price. The more spectacular annual price gains of a year ago — over 20 percent — seem far back in the rear view mirror now.”
Looking ahead, LePage said double-digit price jumps seem unlikely unless there’s a burst of pent-up demand that might be triggered by more robust income growth, a loosening of mortgage credit or a significant move in interest rates.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/business/20140814/southern-california-home-sales-fall-median-price-dropsSAN DIEGO —California home sales were down last month, plunging to the lowest level seen in January in seven years in the San Francisco Bay area, a research firm said Wednesday. But prices are still up over the same period last year.
An estimated 25,325 new and resale houses and condos sold in California - marking a 30.6 percent decline from the number sold the previous month and a 2 percent drop from January 2014 sales, according to data released by Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick.
The median price paid for a home in California of $376,000 was 6.5 percent above what it was a year ago but slightly less than it was in December.
Sales often dip around the holidays, though the Bay area saw a bigger decline in sales last month than it usually does.
A total of 4,439 new and resale houses and condos sold last month in the nine-county Bay area - a 40.5 percent drop from sales in December and 5.5 percent from January 2014. That's the lowest seen in January since 3,586 homes sold in that same month in 2008, which is the trough for January home sales in the firm's statistics.
In Southern California, a total of 13,560 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties. That's down by 29.4 percent from December and 6.3 percent from January 2014.
http://www.kcra.com/news/california-home-prices-still-up-despite-falling-sales/31344848