An estimated 37,481 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was up 0.5 percent from 37,295 in March, and down 1.3 percent from 37,967 for April 2009. California sales for the month of April have varied from a low of 27,625 in 1995 to a peak of 71,638 in 2004, while the average is 44,758.
The median price paid for a home last month was $255,000, unchanged from March, and up 15.4 percent from $221,000 for April a year ago. The year-ago median was the low of the current cycle. The year-over-year increase was the sixth in a row, following 27 months of year-over-year decline. The median peaked at $484,000 in early 2007.
Of the existing homes sold last month, 38.1 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from a revised 40.3 percent in March and down from 54.6 percent in April a year ago. The all-time high was in February 2009 at 58.8 percent.
The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,108. That was up from $1,091 in March, and up from $929 for April a year ago, the low of the current cycle. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s mortgage payment was 48.6 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 58.3 percent below the current cycle’s peak in June 2006.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity is off its peaks reached in the past couple of years but remains high in a historical context. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, cash and non-owner occupied buying is up.
About Dcashion
|
