Southern California Home Sales Decline 5.2% Amid Low Mortgage Availability
Southern California home sales fell 5.2 percent in March from a year earlier as buyers waited for prices to drop and mortgages were hard to get, according to DataQuick Information Systems Inc.
A total of 19,412 houses and condominiums sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties, compared with 20,476 in March 2010, the San Diego-based data seller said today in a statement. Foreclosure properties and homes purchased for less than the amount owed on the loan, known as short sales, accounted for more than half of transactions.
“We got off to a slow start with sales this year and it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon,” John Walsh, DataQuick’s president, said in the statement. An increase in mortgage availability and “another round of price corrections” would help boost sales, he said.
The number of purchases last month was 21 percent below the March average since 1988, DataQuick said. All-cash sales were almost 31 percent of the total, up from a 28 percent share a year earlier and more than double the 10-year average.
Sales fell in five of six counties, with San Bernardino declining the most, 14 percent, and Riverside falling 7.5 percent. Ventura had the only gain, 2.4 percent.
The median price in Southern California was $280,500 last month, up 2 percent from February, and down 1.6 percent from a year earlier, the data firm said. Five of six counties had declines from March 2010, with Riverside unchanged at $198,000.
Prices dropped 6.9 percent to a median $349,000 in Ventura County, 2.7 percent to $320,000 in Los Angeles, 1.5 percent to $325,000 in San Diego, 1.3 percent to $150,000 in San Bernardino, and 0.5 percent to $430,000 in Orange, according to DataQuick.
The company compiles county records and supplies data to public agencies, lenders and title companies.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Levy in San Francisco at dlevy13@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net
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