Los Angeles and Southern California Homes Sales for July 2013

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 July 2013 sales at 25,419 new and resale homes and condos returned to historical normal levels due to increased inventory.  The long term average for July is 25,541 sales.

Median price was $385,000, which was the same in June, but up 25.8 percent from July 2012.  The median has risen year over year for 16 consecutive months.  The July median is still 23.8 percent below the $505,000 peak of the last cycle in summer 2007.

“July home sales came in very strong, and we think a lot of the increase in activity can be chalked up to a rising inventory of homes for sale. The jump in mortgage rates a couple of months back might have spurred more buying, too. The market continues its rebalancing act, with more and more people who’ve been ‘underwater’ now able to sell their homes at a profit, or at least break even. As the mismatch between supply and demand eases, it will be more difficult for home prices to rise as steeply as we’ve seen over the past year,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Buyers continue to put near records of their own money into purchases.  In July they paid $5.39 billion into down payments, up from $3.61 billion a year ago.

Last month, homes priced between $300,000 and $800,000 rose 51.7 percent year over year.  $500,000 and over rose 73.5 percent.   The lowest cost third only saw a 26.5 percent bump in sales.

July foreclosures sales were just 7.8 percent of the market, down from 20.7 percent a year earlier and close to the 7.3 low in the last cycle.  The high for this cycle was 56.7 percent in February 2009.