Prices up 17.2% from last year; sales slow
The state’s residential real estate market continued on a seasonal course in October, with prices continuing to make strong gains and sales softening, a trade group said Monday.
But even if November and December’s buying activity fails to match the last two months of 2004, this should still be a record year for sales and prices, said the California Association of Realtors.
Last month, the median price of a previously owned home increased an annual 17.2 percent to $538,770, while sales fell 2.8 percent from a year ago.
The statewide median, the point at which half the units cost more and half less, peaked in August at $568,730 and has been under that level since.
The median price increased in 97 percent of the 403 cities and communities tracked by the association.
“The median typically hits a peak in the summer and then backs off,” said Robert Kleinhenz, the Los Angeles-based associations deputy chief economist.
Association president Vince Malta noted that prices were leveling off on a monthly basis.
If the entire year’s sales pace matched October’s level, 621,530 single-family properties would change hands.
Kleinhenz notes that, during the year’s first 10 months, sales are running 3.1 percent ahead of 2004 record pace.
Los Angeles County and possibly Ventura County may see sales records this year.
The association’s report showed that:
In Los Angeles County, the median price increased an annual 21.7 percent to $557,730,
and sales slipped 2.7 percent from the year-ago. The year-ago level fell 22.5 percent from September.
In Ventura County, the median price increased 15.9 percent to $677,780, and sales fell 7.2 percent annually and 22.2 percent from October.
The state-wide inventory increased to a four-month supply from a three-month supply a year ago.
The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate averaged 6.07 percent during October, up from 5.72 percent a year ago. Adjustable rates averaged 4.86 percent, up from 4.02 percent in October 2004.
The median number of days it took to sell a house was 35 days in October, a day longer than a year ago.
John Karevoll, an analyst at market tracker DataQuick Information Systems, said that the market was behaving in a normal fashion and no signs of a collapse were evident.
“The big question again is, are we at the edge of a cliff and the bottom is falling out or are we just at a normal point in a real estate cycle? I think it’s more of the latter,” he said.