California Home Sales Statistics

California home sales slowed in September, but the local housing market saw a record number of short sales. Buyers purchased 380 single-family homes last month, down 19% from August. Home sales often taper after Labor Day, and September sales were down just 2% from a year earlier. But buyers and sellers last month signed contracts on 175 short sale properties, those homes where the proposed sales price is less than the amount owed on the mortgage. Another 151 such contracts were signed in August. By comparison, for most of the past three years, the number of such deals hasn't exceeded 100 per month. Typically many of those agreements don't result in a final sale.  But demand for homes has reduced the short sale inventory to its lowest level in three years - less than a two-month supply at the current pace. In September, the county's median price for all single-family homes rose 6% from August to $350,000. A year ago the median price reached $366,500, but in the months since it has stayed in a range between $315,000 and $354,200. Home prices peaked in the county in the summer of 2005, when the median hit $619,000. From there, the median price plunged to $305,000 in February 2009.

Many home sellers this year seemed to stick to the seasonal pattern of marketing homes in spring and summer. The inventory of homes on the market rose steadily this year and peaked at about 2,000 homes in June. Since then inventory has fallen and by the end of September was down to about 1,600 homes - slightly more than a four-month supply at the current pace of sales. But last month the inventory of short sale properties on the market fell below 300, the lowest level in three years. A year ago that inventory amounted to nearly 600 such homes. The median price for a short sale last month was $305,500, compared to $269,450 for a bank-owned foreclosure property and $409,000 for homes where the seller still has some equity. Foreclosures and short sales made up 45% of all sales last month. To date this year, buyers have purchased slightly more than 3,400 single-family homes in the county. The pace is similar to last year, which was slightly below average.

Please click on Short Sales, Investments, and mortgages for more information.