Single-Family Home Sales to Decline in California

Sales of single-family homes in California will slow by 14 percent on an annual basis this year, while the state’s median home price will rise just short of 2 percent, a real estate trade group said.
Across the California housing market, sales for the year will total 410,000, compared to 477,460 last year, according to the California Association of Realtors’ midyear forecast.

The trade group expects the median price of a California home will increase 1.8 percent to $566,500.

Last year, the statewide median home price was $556,640, according to the group.

The pace of sales in California has been slowing for more than a year, part of a national housing slump that followed the real estate market boom in the first half of the decade.

While sales have slowed statewide, they have been weakest in areas that saw heavy building of new houses and condos. Prices have also slipped the most in those areas, said Leslie Appleton-Young, the association’s vice president and chief economist.

“This pattern is likely to continue throughout the rest of the year, particularly in areas that were popular among first-time home buyers, which experienced the greatest run-up in prices,” Appleton-Young said.

The Central Valley region has seen the biggest annual decline in sales and median home price, when compared to the rest of the state, the group said. Demand for mortgages in that region just hasn’t been very strong.

In contrast, sales and median prices have been more resistant to declines in higher-end coastal areas in Southern California and the region around San Francisco housing market.

SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune