California housing market improves
From the Bay Area to Southern California, the state’s housing market showed strength as median prices ROSE and sales outperformed the same month last year! The median home price in California (the median is the point at which half the homes in the state sold for more and half for less) increased 6% in April to $264,000 according to DataQuick of San Diego. In BOTH the Bay Area and Southern California, the share of home sales that were foreclosures declined significantly. Foreclosures tend to drag prices down.
“It appears that the market is taking a step in the direction of normalization, but only a step,” DataQuick President John Walsh said. “The mortgage market is critical, as is market mix and the receding importance of foreclosure resales.”
In April, a total of 38,241 newly built and previously owned homes, condominiums, and townhouses sold in California. The figure was UP 2% from March and UP 8.6% from April of 2011. DataQuick also notes that the total was the HIGHEST for any April since 2006 and the ninth consecutive month that sales have improved year over year!
Sales of foreclosed homes made up 30.3% of resale homes last month, down from a revised 32.8% in March and from 36.4% in April 2011. Short sales statewide made up 18.3% of the market, down from 19.1% in March but up from 16.9% in April 2011.
Needless to say – this is good news for California homeowners!
-Bill at
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