California April Statewide Home Sales/Median Prices

May 22, 2009

An estimated 37,967 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was up 4.8 percent from 36,215 in March and up 21.9 percent from 31,150 in April 2008. Sales have increased on a year-over-year basis the last 10 months. California sales for the month of April have varied from a low of 27,625 in 1995 to a peak of 71,638 in 2004, while the average is 45,088 sales. MDA DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.

The median price paid for a home last month was $221,000, down 0.9 percent from $223,000 in March, and down 37.6 percent from $354,000 in April a year ago. The month-to-month decline in the median has been less than 1 percent for the past three months, compared with an average month-to-month decline of 4.3 percent in the 12 months ending this January. April’s median was 54.3 percent lower than the peak $484,000 median reached during several months in the spring of 2007.

The sharp decline in the median is mainly the result of two factors: home price depreciation, and a shift toward a higher portion of the state’s sales occurring in relatively affordable, foreclosure-heavy inland markets. For more than a year, sales have been extremely low in many higher-end markets, especially along the coast, which means those higher sale prices are missing from today’s statistics. The median is the point where half of the homes sold for more and half for less.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 55.1 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months. That compares with 56.7 percent in March and 37.6 percent a year ago. The peak: 58.8 percent in February this year.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $929. That was down from $958 in March, and down from $1,683 for April a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month's mortgage payment was the lowest in DataQuick's statistics, which go back to 1988. The payment was 55.9 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 64.3 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.

MDA DataQuick is a division of MDA Lending Solutions, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. MDA DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains at historically high levels, while financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is at an all-time low, as is financing with multiple mortgages. Down payment sizes and flipping rates are stable, and non-owner occupied buying activity is above-average in some markets, MDA DataQuick reported.