Pace of sales, compared with ’08, also increasing
By Roger Showley, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 12:02 a.m.
San Diego County, with a 10 percent increase, led Southern California in home price improvement last month, although Los Angeles had the highest sales growth on a year-over-year basis, MDA DataQuick reported yesterday.
Overall, the six-county region had a 4 percent increase in median price, rising from $278,000 in December 2008 to $289,000 last month. It was the first year-over-year improvement since summer 2007. The one exception was the Inland Empire, where prices in Riverside and San Bernardino counties were lower in December than a year earlier.
Sales were up 12.1 percent regionally, while San Diego, as earlier reported, was up 9.8 percent and Los Angeles was up 31.3 percent.
Kelly Cunningham, senior economist at National University’s Institute for Policy Research in San Diego, said the coastal counties typically fare better than the Inland Empire because of the historic preference for living near the beach and the lack of new development in the nearly built-out coastal zone.
“It’s somewhat encouraging that things are picking up,” he said.
During the mid-2000s boom, many San Diego workers fled to southern Riverside County to take advantage of lower prices for bigger homes. With the latest figures, the price gap between San Diego and Riverside grew from $91,000 in December 2008 to $134,000 last month. But Cunningham said San Diego workers looking to buy may still find it more affordable and tolerable — at least for now — to stay local than to endure the hour-plus commute.
“At some point, I think it will turn around, but we’re not there yet,” he said.
In other findings from DataQuick, the “flipping rate” — resales of homes within three weeks and six months of the initial purchase — was lowest in San Diego County in December at 2.4 percent and highest in San Bernardino County at 3.8 percent. The regional average was 3.1 percent. Cunningham said the lower rate in San Diego County may reflect relatively more investor interest in foreclosure properties elsewhere.
The percentage of resales that had gone through foreclosure in the previous 12 months was 39.6 percent regionally in December, up from 39 percent in November. San Diego’s rate was 35.8 percent last month, up from 32.6 percent in November.
In financing, Southern California buyers typically paid $1,231 per month in mortgages last month, up from $1,207 in November but down from $1,239 a year earlier. Adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 4.6 percent of home loans, the highest since September 2008 but far below the 51 percent average level since 2000.
Federal Housing Administration-insured loans accounted for 39.6 percent of all home purchase mortgages, up from 39.1 percent in December 2008; 24.9 percent of sales were all-cash deals involving no mortgage, compared with 22 percent a year earlier — another indication of investor interest in foreclosures.
Overall, the six-county region had a 4 percent increase in median price, rising from $278,000 in December 2008 to $289,000 last month. It was the first year-over-year improvement since summer 2007. The one exception was the Inland Empire, where prices in Riverside and San Bernardino counties were lower in December than a year earlier.
Sales were up 12.1 percent regionally, while San Diego, as earlier reported, was up 9.8 percent and Los Angeles was up 31.3 percent.
Kelly Cunningham, senior economist at National University’s Institute for Policy Research in San Diego, said the coastal counties typically fare better than the Inland Empire because of the historic preference for living near the beach and the lack of new development in the nearly built-out coastal zone.
“It’s somewhat encouraging that things are picking up,” he said.
During the mid-2000s boom, many San Diego workers fled to southern Riverside County to take advantage of lower prices for bigger homes. With the latest figures, the price gap between San Diego and Riverside grew from $91,000 in December 2008 to $134,000 last month. But Cunningham said San Diego workers looking to buy may still find it more affordable and tolerable — at least for now — to stay local than to endure the hour-plus commute.
“At some point, I think it will turn around, but we’re not there yet,” he said.
In other findings from DataQuick, the “flipping rate” — resales of homes within three weeks and six months of the initial purchase — was lowest in San Diego County in December at 2.4 percent and highest in San Bernardino County at 3.8 percent. The regional average was 3.1 percent. Cunningham said the lower rate in San Diego County may reflect relatively more investor interest in foreclosure properties elsewhere.
The percentage of resales that had gone through foreclosure in the previous 12 months was 39.6 percent regionally in December, up from 39 percent in November. San Diego’s rate was 35.8 percent last month, up from 32.6 percent in November.
In financing, Southern California buyers typically paid $1,231 per month in mortgages last month, up from $1,207 in November but down from $1,239 a year earlier. Adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 4.6 percent of home loans, the highest since September 2008 but far below the 51 percent average level since 2000.
Federal Housing Administration-insured loans accounted for 39.6 percent of all home purchase mortgages, up from 39.1 percent in December 2008; 24.9 percent of sales were all-cash deals involving no mortgage, compared with 22 percent a year earlier — another indication of investor interest in foreclosures.
