Southern California Home Sales for February 2012

Follow

DQ News reported that 15,573 new and resale homes sold Southern California in February 2012.  That was up from January by 7.2% and up 8.4% from February 2011.  Plus it was the best February since 2007.   The increase in sales between January and February was larger than usual. On average, sales have risen 1.1 percent between those two months since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

“February sales got a big boost from investors and others paying cash for relatively affordable homes, as well as from an extra day’s worth of sales thanks to the leap year. Without the latter, sales might have been up a bit, but not to a five-year high. It’s just one more reason for us to remind everyone that January and February usually aren’t good months to use for forecasting purposes. The big picture remains one where the bottom of the housing market continues to see much of the action, while move-up activity remains sluggish. Financing is still difficult for many and lots of potential move-up buyers and sellers are stuck because they owe more than their homes are worth,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president

Distressed properties were again more than half of the Southern California residential activity last month. 

Foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 32.5 percent of the resale market last month, down from a revised 32.6 percent in January and down from 37.0 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales hit a high for the current cycle of 56.7 percent in February 2009 and a low of 31.6 percent last November.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 20.5 percent of Southland resales last month. That compares with 21.1 percent in January, which was a high point for the current real estate cycle, and 19.7 percent in February 2011.

Median price at $264,750 for February and was up 1.8% from $260,000 in January 2012, but still down  3.7% from $275,00 in February 2011.   February’s median was 7.2% higher than the median’s low point in the current real estate cycle – $247,000 in April 2009, but far lower than the peak $505,000 median in mid 2007. 

http://dqnews.com/Articles/2012/News/California/Southern-CA/RRSCA120314.aspx