Home sales sluggish in California

Home sales in Southern California is dropping fast, according to the latest data from property analytics provider CoreLogic.

In January, 12,665 houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties — down 19.8 percent from January and 17.1 percent year-over-year. Among newly-built homes, sales fell 57.8 percent below average January figures.

“January marked the second consecutive month in which Southern California home sales were the lowest for that month in 11 years, since the early days of the last housing bust,” said Andrew LePage, a CoreLogic analyst, in a prepared statement. “Many of the deals recorded last month reflect purchasing decisions made during the holidays, from Thanksgiving 2018 through early in the new year. ”

Such low numbers have not been seen since January 2008, when the country was entering a housing and financial crisis. The steep drop is the result of a number of factors both unique to Southern California and present nationwide. While sales are always low after the holidays, high mortgage rates, peaking home values and an overvalued market all contributed to the current situation, according to CoreLogic.

In particular, incomes are not keeping up with the high growth in home values. Sales of homes below $200,000 fell by 26.5 percent while sales of homes worth less than $300,000 dropped by 23.4 percent. As a result, competition for affordable houses keeps rising while the number of investors and vacation home buyers makes up a larger percentage of the total buyers (23.9 percent, up from 22.8 percent in December.)

“Buyer enthusiasm during this period was dampened by a variety of forces including affordability constraints, stock market volatility, concerns home prices might have peaked and uncertainty triggered by the partial federal government shutdown that began on Dec. 22, 2018,” LePage said. “However, this January’s slowdown was likely tempered by a significant drop in mortgage rates that began in December, improving affordability at a time when inventory was up year-over-year.”

Use your authenticity to stand out from the crowd

Top producer Tallie Lancey on how to hone your unique voice as a REALTOR© READ MORE

Email Veronika Bondarenko

Article image credited to iStock.com.

Home sales sluggish in California curated from Inman

Comments

Vacation rental company Vacasa buys Sterling Resorts

Vacation rental management tech startup Vacasa isn’t slowing down its ambitions to conquer the market: this week, it announced that it has purchased Sterling Resorts, a vacation management company on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Sterling has changed hands before: it was bought by Pacifica Companies in 2015 and currently manages 450 homes. Now it will become a part of Vacasa’s effort to expand its presence in vacation destinations such as northern Florida, where Sterling is based. At the time of this latest purchase, Sterling’s home inventory was down from 585 properties in 2015. Vacasa has raised more than $200 million since its launch ten years ago. Founder Eric Breon said he was motivated to start the company after struggling to find a satisfactory management solution for a cabin belonging to his wife’s family on the Washington coast. Now Vacasa seeks to provide rental property owners with “a seamless experience…through innovative technology and local staff,” that give them

In An Era Of WeWork, Co-Working Space NeueHouse Sits Above The Fray

NeueHouse CEO Josh Wyatt Seuss Moments In today’s cluttered co-working landscape, it can be hard for companies to makes themselves heard over the din. Elevated co-working space NeueHouse wants to create an unparalleled experience for creatives through elevated programming and outstanding design. NeueHouse describes itself as “ a private cultural and collaborative space for prominent creatives, artists and entrepreneurs,” with current locations in Los Angeles and New York. In November, following an announcement of $30 million in funding , the company announced Josh Wyatt as its new CEO. Wyatt is a veteran of the hospitality industry, having co-founded Generator in 2007, a chain of culture-focused hostels targeted at millennials, before moving on to Equinox to head the fitness brand’s hotel developments in New York City. Forbes interviewed Wyatt to talk about creativity, design, the gun threat incident at NeueHouse New York, and why he isn't phased by his "800 p

Could Ken Griffin's Penthouse Purchase Cost NYC Real Estate Buyers Millions?

'The Billionaire's Bunker' at 220 Central Park South is pictured on January 24, 2019, in New York - Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin has completed the purchase of a four-story penthouse in the building for $238 millionm- the most ever paid for a home in the US. The building is a residential skyscraper that is currently under construction. (Photo credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) Getty A 2014 bill that aims to impose an additional tax on part-time New York residents—dubbed the “pied-a-terre tax”—has risen from the dead, largely in thanks to the recent record-breaking Central Park penthouse purchase by billionaire Ken Griffin. Griffin, worth an estimated $11.7 billion and No. 45 on the Forbes 400 , reportedly bought the $238 million-dollar apartment “as a place to stay when he’s in town,” according to his representatives. The purchase drew widespread attention to the financial losses that part-time and foreign property owners can cause the city. Bec

Maureen Mengel Blog

Search This Blog