Sales dropped less as well, MDA DataQuick reports
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 15, 2010 AT 1:36 P.M., UPDATED DECEMBER 15, 2010 AT 2:22 P.M.
Southern California home prices rose more and sales dropped less than in San Diego County from October to November, MDA DataQuick reported Wednesday.
The six-county regional median price was $287,000 up $4,000 or 1.4 percent from October, compared with San Diego’s previously reported median, which rose just $500 or 0.15 percent to $335,000.
But on a year-over-year basis, regional prices were up 0.7 percent while San Diego’s median price rose 3.1 percent, the highest rate of the six counties.
Regional sales totaled 16,208, down 3.2 percent from October compared to San Diego sales, which declined by more than 6.7 percent. Year-over-year, the region was down 15.5 percent and San Diego was down 18.5 percent.
Sales typically drop from October to November and this year’s month-to-month regional decline was smaller than the 22-year average of 8.1 percent.
But for new housing, it was the slowest November both regionally and locally since DataQuick began keeping records in 1988. The company said the slowdown in sales reflects the difficulty builders have in competing with low-cost foreclosures, short-sales and other distressed properties on the market.
Foreclosure sales, involving properties that were foreclosed in the previous 12 months, remained well above the long-term average regionally at 35.1 percent of all sales in November — although the proportion was below the 56.7 percent peak in February 2009 and above this year’s low of 32 percent in June. San Diego’s foreclosure proportion has consistently been less than the regional figure; it was 29.6 percent in November, compared with 30.4 percent in October and 32.6 percent a year earlier.
More generally, said DataQuick President John Walsh, “Home sales remain weak because the job market has been slow to mend and credit policies remain unusually tight. But with sales this low for this long, you know there are a lot of people just waiting to jump into the market once they feel the time is right.”
He said the signal is likely to be “a greater sense of job security.”
“For others the cue could be evidence that home prices have bottomed for good or that ultralow mortgage rates are slipping away,” he said.
Last week’s average 30-year, fixed-rate loan nationally went for 4.6 percent, according toFreddie Mac, up from the most recent low of just under 4.2 percent Nov. 11.
In San Diego, prices have been rising and falling month by month, staying within a narrow band of $320,000 to $340,000 since mid-2009. Conditions can vary greatly neighborhood by neighborhood and even block by block, depending on what’s for sale and whether distressed properties dominate.
In other findings, DataQuick said 20.7 percent of regional sales involved homes selling for $500,000 or more, up from 19.8 percent in November 2009 but below the November average of 26.8 percent in the past decade. Sales at the top end have been hampered by the relative scarcity of jumbo financing and credit limitations.
Absentee buyers accounted for 23.1 percent of sales, just below the 23.2 percent peak set in February. The 10-year average is 16 percent.
All-cash buyers accounted for 28 percent of November sales, down from the 30.1 percent peak last February but ahead of the 22-year average of 14.3 percent.
Buyers who flipped properties within six months comprised 3.6 percent of sales in November, down from 3.7 percent in October but up from 3 percent a year earlier.
The typical mortgage in November was $1,136, up from $1,111 in October but down from $1,207 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, the payment was 58.5 percent below the peak in July 1007 and 49.3 percent below the previous peak in the spring of 1989.
Roger Showley, (619) 293-1286, roger.showley@uniontrib.com, Twitter: @rmshowley
