DQNews and Custom Reports

April Phoenix Area Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 24 May 2012 22:53:00 +0000

Phoenix Region April Home Sales

The median price paid for a home in the Phoenix area last month jumped to a 29-month high, rising on a year-over-year basis for the fifth month in a row. The number of homes sold fell slightly compared with both March and a year earlier as foreclosure resales and sub-$100,000 transactions dropped off sharply, a real estate information service reported.

In April, buyers paid a median $142,000 for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. It was the highest median for any month since November 2009, when the median was $142,700. Last month’s median was up 4.0 percent from March and up 18.3 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

The median's 18.3 percent year-over-year increase in April followed annual gains of 13.8 percent in March and 7.5 percent in each of the prior three months.

Last month’s median sale price stood 46.2 percent below the all-time peak of $264,100 in June 2006, but it was 20.0 percent above the median’s post-peak trough of $118,347 in August 2011.
To some extent, last month’s relatively large year-over-year gain in the median sale price was driven by price pressures that have formed in the market as affordability-driven demand has been met with a relatively low inventory of homes for sale. But the jump in the median price also reflects a substantial drop in the share of all resales that are foreclosed properties, which tend to carry significant discounts and be concentrated in lower-cost areas.

Foreclosure resales, defined as homes that were foreclosed on in the prior 12 months, fell to 26.6 percent of the resale market last month – the lowest level for any month since February 2008, when they were 22.8 percent. April’s foreclosure resale level fell from 31.7 percent the month before and 50.6 percent a year earlier. The peak level for foreclosure resales was 66.2 percent in March 2009.

Last month a total of 9,450 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the two-county Phoenix region, down 6.0 percent from the month before and down 3.0 percent from a year earlier. On average, April home sales have risen 1.0 percent from March since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Phoenix region statistics begin.

Total home sales in April were 2.3 percent short of the average number sold that month, mainly because new-home sales remain far below average. Resales of houses and condos combined in April were 5.5 percent above the historical average for that month. New-home sales were 59.1 percent below average for an April. However, sales of newly built homes have been on an upswing of late. They have risen year-over-year for 10 consecutive months, and April's 885 new-home sales were the second-highest for the month of April since 2008.

Last month’s total home sales rose year-over-year in most price segments above $100,000. The number of new and resale homes that sold in April for less than $100,000 fell 29.1 percent from a year earlier, while sales between $100,000 and $200,000 increased 14.0 percent. Deals between $200,000 and $400,000 rose 28.8 percent year-over-year, while sales above $500,000 rose 5.0 percent. However, April transactions over $800,000 fell 6.8 percent from a year earlier.

Last month 28.5 percent of all homes sold for less than $100,000, down from 30.5 percent the prior month and down from 40.0 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest for any month since November 2009, when sub-$100,000 sales accounted for 26.9 percent of all transactions.

Other Phoenix region April highlights:

A key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for existing single-family detached houses, increased in April to $79 – the highest since November 2008, when it was $84. April's figure rose 3.9 percent from the month before and increased 19.7 percent year-over-year. The median paid per square foot has risen year-over-year for five consecutive months. The April figure stood 53.8 percent below the $171 peak median paid per square foot in May and June of 2006.
At the county level in April, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses in Maricopa County rose to $83, up 5.1 percent from the prior month and up 20.0 percent from a year earlier. It was the fifth consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. The Pinal County median paid per square foot was $56 last month, down 1.8 percent from the prior month but up 21.4 percent from a year earlier, marking the seventh consecutive month to see a year-over-year increase.
Short sales, where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property, represented an estimated 12.4 percent of April’s resale activity. That was down from an estimated 13.3 percent the prior month and it was the same as a year earlier.
Lenders foreclosed on 2,190 Phoenix-area homes in April, down 8.3 percent from the month before and down 58.5 percent from a year earlier. The number of homes lost to foreclosure between January and April this year totaled 10,090, down 54.5 percent from the same period last year.
Absentee buyers, who are mainly investors and vacation-home buyers, bought 40.2 percent of all Phoenix-area homes sold last month, down from 46.2 percent the month before and down from 46.3 percent a year earlier. The peak was 47.1 percent in March 2011. Last month, absentee buyers paid a median $119,000, up from $117,500 the month before and up 20.2 percent from $99,000 a year earlier.
Buyers paying cash bought 45.0 percent of all homes sold in April. That was the same as the prior month and up slightly from 44.5 percent a year earlier. The record for cash buying was 48.0 percent in February 2011. Last month’s cash buyers paid a median $120,000, up from $112,500 the month before and up 30.6 percent from $91,900 a year earlier.

See the complete home sale chart at DQNews.com.

April California Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:21:00 +0000

California April Home Sales

May 17, 2012

An estimated 38,241 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was up 2.0 percent from 37,481 in March, and up 8.6 percent from 35,202 for April 2011. Last month's sales were the highest for any April since 48,894 homes were sold in April 2006.

On a year-over-year basis, sales have increased the past nine months. California sales for the month of April have varied from a low of 27,625 in 1995 to a high of 71,638 in 2004, while the average is 44,115. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.

The median price paid for a home last month was $264,000, up 5.2 percent from $251,000 in March, and up 6.0 percent from $249,000 for April a year ago. Last month was the second month in a row to post a year-over-year gain in the state’s median sale price. At the bottom of the current cycle in April 2009 the state’s median fell to $221,000, while the median peaked at $484,000 in early 2007.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up close to half of the state’s resale market last month.

Of the existing homes sold in April, 30.3 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from a revised 32.8 percent in March and down from 36.4 percent in April a year ago. Last month’s figure was the lowest for any month since foreclosure resales made up 29.6 percent of the resale market in January 2008. The all-time high for foreclosure resales was 58.5 percent in February 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.3 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was down from 19.1 percent the month before and up from 16.9 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $997. That was up from March's $953. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 51.6 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 64.4 percent below the 2006 peak of the current cycle.

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 is high, but not increasing. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and cash and non-owner-occupied buying is flat at a high level, DataQuick reported.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or alepage@dqnews.com

April Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:10:00 +0000

Increase in Bay Area Home Sales and Median Price

May 17, 2012

La Jolla, CA.-- Bay Area home sales increased last month to their highest level for an April since 2006. The median sale price rose year-over-year for the first time in 19 months, reaching its highest point since September 2010 amid indications that market stress is easing and fence-sitters are moving to take advantage of lower prices and ultra-low mortgage rates, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 7,675 new and resale homes sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was virtually unchanged from 7,694 the prior month, and up 13.1 percent from 6,789 in April a year ago.

Last month’s sales were the strongest since 2006, when 9,129 homes sold. Since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics start, April sales have varied from 6,310 in 2008 to 14,430 in 2004. The average is 9,088.

“It appears that the market is taking a step in the direction of normalization, but only a step. We’re still watching technical indicators more than top-line sales counts and median prices. The mortgage market is critical, as is market mix and the receding importance of foreclosure resales,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“The uptick in the median sale price was to be expected. It gets tugged up as foreclosure resales ebb and activity picks up in the move-up markets, especially in higher-cost coastal areas. We’re seeing the exact same trends with the median on the upside that we saw when it was coming down, just in reverse,” he said.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month was $390,000. That was up 8.9 percent from $358,000 in March, and up 8.3 percent from $360,000 in April 2011. The year-over-year increase was the first since September 2010, when the $395,000 median was up 8.2 percent from $365,000 a year prior.

The low point of the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in March 2009. The peak was $665,000 in June/July 2007. Around half of the median’s peak-to-trough drop was the result of a decline in home values, while the other half reflected a shift in the sales mix.

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up about 40 percent of the resale market. That was down from about 44 percent the month before and 45 percent a year ago.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 21.7 percent of resales in April, the lowest since 18.8 percent in January 2008. It was down from a revised 25.5 percent in March, and down from 27.8 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 17 years is about 10 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.1 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 18.9 percent the prior month and up from 17.4 percent a year earlier.

Last month 37.6 percent of Bay Area sales were for $500,000 or more, up from a revised 33.4 percent in March and up from 36.1 percent in April 2011. The low for the current cycle was January 2009, when just 22.7 percent of sales crossed the $500,000 threshold. Over the past 10 years, a monthly average of 47.7 percent of homes sold for $500,000-plus.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 18.4 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages last month, down from 20.9 percent the month before and 25.0 percent a year earlier. Last month’s FHA share was the lowest since August 2008, when it was 14.7 percent.

One indicator of mortgage availability improved in April, when 14.7 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). That was up from a revised 11.6 percent in March, and down from 15.4 percent in April last year. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 50.2 percent of all purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 35.5 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from a revised 30.7 percent in March, and up from 32.2 percent a year ago. Last month’s percentage was the highest since July 2010, when 36.4 percent of all purchase loans were jumbos. Jumbo usage dropped to 17.1 percent in January 2009. Before the credit crunch struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Bay Area purchase loan market.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 23.7 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, down from 24.2 percent the prior month and up from 21.1 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $270,500 last month, up from $250,000 the month before and $257,000 a year ago.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no evidence of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 28.8 percent of sales in April. That was down from 29.4 percent in March, and up from 27.4 percent a year ago. The monthly average going back to 1988 is 12.4 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $270,000 in April, up from $250,000 the prior month and $262,000 a year earlier.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,473, up from $1,359 in March, and down from $1,518 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 47.4 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 61.1 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but below peak levels reached over the last few years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

See the Bay Area County Chart in the full article at DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

March Seattle Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:02:00 +0000

Seattle Region March Home Sales

Fueled by lower prices and ultra-low mortgage rates, Seattle-area home sales rose year-over-year for the ninth consecutive month in March, when sub-$200,000 transactions jumped nearly 22 percent. The median sale price edged up from February and posted its smallest decline from a year earlier in 16 months - in part because of the waning role of foreclosure resales in the market, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 3,909 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during March in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area encompassing King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. March's total sales rose 33.2 percent from the month before and increased 6.7 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A spike in sales between February and March is normal, with that increase averaging 37.6 percent since 1994, when DataQuick's complete Seattle-area statistics begin.

The number of homes sold this March was the highest for that month since 3,944 homes sold in March 2010. This March's sales were 24.0 percent below the average number of homes sold during the month of March since 1994.

The Seattle-area resale market - existing single-family houses and condos combined - posted a 3.9 percent sales gain from a year earlier, while sales of newly built homes logged a 24.8 percent increase. March sales of newly built Seattle-area homes were the highest for any month since June 2010.

The year-over-year gain in overall March home sales was driven mainly by robust sales of lower-cost homes. The number that sold for less than $150,000 shot up 42.7 percent compared with a year earlier, while sub-$200,000 transactions increased 21.8 percent. Sales between $200,000 and $600,000 dipped 1.2 percent in March compared with a year earlier, while sales in the $600,000 to $900,000 range increased 8.4 percent year-over-year. (Note: $600,000-to-$900,000 sales represented 6.7 percent of March transactions, while sub-$200,000 deals accounted for 34.3 percent of the market and $200,000-to-$600,000 sales accounted for 55.8 percent).

Buyers paid a median $257,877 for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the three-county Seattle region during March. That was up 3.5 percent from the prior month and down 3.1 percent from a year earlier. The median has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 20 consecutive months, but March's 3.1 percent year-over-year decline was the smallest for any month since November 2010, when the median fell 2.6 percent.

March's median was 29.4 percent lower than the Seattle area's peak $365,200 median in June 2007, and it was 8.4 percent higher than the post-peak trough of $238,000 in January this year.

Another key price measure, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, rose to $153 in March - the highest since it was $154 last October. This March's figure rose 3.4 percent from the prior month and fell 6.7 percent from a year earlier. The median paid per square foot has fallen year-over-year for 19 consecutive months and in March it was 36.0 percent lower than the peak $239 median paid per square foot in June 2007.

At the county level in March, the median price paid per square foot for resale detached houses fell 1.9 percent year-over-year in King County, while it dropped 8.3 percent from a year ago in Pierce County and fell 9.6 percent in Snohomish County.

Distressed property sales â€“ foreclosure resales and "short sales" combined - represented roughly 46 percent of the Seattle area's resale market in March, down from about 49 percent the month before and 48 percent a year earlier.

Foreclosure resales - properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - represented 26.8 percent of the resale market in March - the lowest since December 2010. Last month's figure was down from 30.6 percent the prior month and down from a record high of 32.8 percent a year earlier.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 18.7 percent of the Seattle-area's March resales. That was the same as the month before and up from an estimated 15.3 percent a year earlier.

In March, lenders foreclosed on 422 single-family houses and condo units in the region, down 17.4 percent from the month before and down 65.5 percent from a year earlier. During the first three months of this year, 1,534 homes were foreclosed on in the Seattle area, down 54.3 percent from the same period last year. The figures are based on the number of Trustees Deeds filed with county recorder offices.

Investors and first-time buyers continue to pursue many of the distressed homes on the market.

Absentee buyers - mainly investors - accounted for 20.6 percent of the Seattle area's March home sales, down from 21.1 percent the month before and up from 17.9 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers paid a median $165,000 in March, down 0.6 percent from the month before and down 17.5 percent from a year earlier. While many of these buyers are investors, they can include second-home buyers and others who indicated at the time of sale that the property tax bill would be sent to a different address.

Many investors are among the cash buyers, who accounted for 22.3 percent of March sales, down from 22.7 percent the prior month and up from 21.2 percent a year earlier. Cash buyers paid a median $172,500 in March, up 3.9 percent month-to-month and down 17.9 percent year-over-year.

In March, 24.3 percent of Seattle-area purchase mortgages were government-insured FHA loans, a popular, low-down-payment choice among first-time home buyers. That was down from 26.4 percent of home purchase loans the prior month and down from 30.2 percent a year earlier. The region's FHA level peaked for the current cycle at 39.9 percent in October 2009.

View the home sale chart at DQNews.com.

March Miami Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:59:00 +0000

Miami Region March Home Sales

May 8, 2012

Despite near-record-levels of investor and cash purchases, Miami-area home sales fell about 7 percent in March compared with a year earlier amid a sharp drop in the number of transactions under $200,000. The region's median sale price was flat compared with February but rose year-over-year for the third consecutive month, a real estate information service reported.

In March, 9,541 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was up 24.0 percent from the prior month and down 6.9 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

It's normal for Miami-area sales to jump up between February and March. On average, sales between those two months have risen 30.9 percent since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area statistics begin.

March's total sales were 16.5 percent lower than the average March sales tally of 11,429 since 1997. However, if newly built homes are excluded from the sales mix, then the number of houses and condos that closed escrow in March was just 3.8 percent below the historical average for the month.

Although the Miami region's new-home sales rose 5.2 percent in March compared with a year earlier, they were 72.3 percent below average for the month. New-home sales have risen year-over-year for the past five months.

When viewed by price segment, March sales in the Miami area dropped 17.2 percent year-over-year for homes priced below $100,000, and fell 11.1 percent for homes below $200,000. Sales between $200,000 and $600,000 posted a 5.5 percent annual increase, while the number of homes that sold above $800,000 fell 6.9 percent from the same month last year.

In the Miami region's multi-million-dollar luxury market, 74 homes sold for $2 million or more in March, up 34.5 percent from the month before and the same as a year earlier. During the first three months of this year 185 homes sold for $2 million or more, up 5.7 percent from the same three-month period in 2011. The figures are based on public property records, where either a price or loan amount was available.

In the overall Miami market, the median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in March was $134,950, down insignificantly from $135,000 the month before and up 12.5 percent from a year earlier. March's year-over-year increase ties this February's annual gain as the highest since a 13.4 percent annual increase in April 2006. The Miami area's median sale price has increased year-over-year for three consecutive months. Prior to January this year, the median hadn't risen on a year-over-year basis since September 2007. The median stopped falling year-over-year in December 2011, when it was exactly the same as a year earlier.

Despite the March median's 12.5 percent gain compared with a year earlier, it was 53.5 percent lower than the Miami area's peak $290,000 median in June 2007.

There are multiple reasons for the median's 12.5 percent annual gain in February and March. In addition to widening price stability and any price pressures that might be forming, there's been a shift toward more homes selling in mid- to higher-end areas. Also, sales of newly built homes, which typically sell for more than resale houses and condos, made up a slightly higher share of total sales this March compared with March 2011.

In March, the region's resale condo median fell 7.1 percent month-to-month, in part because the February median had been inflated by a bulk purchase of high-end condos in Miami Beach. But it rose 15.6 percent year-over-year, marking the sixth consecutive month in which the resale condo median posted an annual gain.

The median price paid for resale single-family detached houses rose 3.1 percent in March compared with February, and it rose 6.1 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month with a year-over-year gain.

Another key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, rose again in March to $88 for the overall region. That was up 2.3 percent from $86 the month before and up 3.2 percent from a year earlier - the second consecutive year-over-year again following 19 months of annual declines. The March figure stood 54.2 percent below the peak median of $211 paid per square foot in May 2006.

At the county level in March, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses edged up to $78 in Broward County, up 2.6 percent month-to-month and up 6.1 percent year-over-year. It was the third consecutive month to post an annual gain. The median paid per square foot rose to $96 in Miami-Dade County, up 3.2 percent month-to-month and up 7.6 percent from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive month to post an annual gain. Palm Beach County's median paid per square foot increased to $98 in March, up 2.1 percent from the month before and up 0.5 percent from a year earlier, marking the first annual increase since May 2010.

The median price paid per square foot for resale condos in March was $84, down 4.5 percent from February but up 12.3 percent from a year earlier, when this median hit its trough for the current housing cycle. The figure has risen year-over-year for six consecutive months, but in March it remained 60.2 percent below its peak of $211 per square foot reached in April 2006.

Driving much of the demand for the region's lower-cost homes are absentee buyers, who purchased 41.8 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in March. That was down from a record 42.6 percent in February, and up from 39.4 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers are investors, second-home buyers and others who indicate at the time of sale that their property tax bill will be sent to a different address. (Absentee statistics go back to January 2000). Absentee buyers paid a median $95,000 for all new and resale houses and condos that they purchased in March, down from $102,000 the month before and up from $81,500 a year earlier.

March buyers who had a foreign mailing addresses in the public record accounted for 7.2 percent of total Miami-area home sales for the month, and bought 11.3 percent of the existing (not new) condos that sold. Of all homes bought with a foreign mailing address in March, about 81 percent were existing condos. (Note: Not all foreign buyers use a foreign mailing address, hence cannot be tracked with public records.)

Many absentee buyers are also cash buyers, who purchased 67.6 percent of the Miami-area homes sold in March. That was down slightly from a record 68.7 percent the prior month and down from 68.6 percent a year earlier. March's cash buyers paid a median $100,000, down from $105,000 the month before and up from $86,000 a year earlier. Cash deals are where there was no indication in the public record of a purchase loan recorded at the time of sale.

Meanwhile, use of a form of low-down-payment financing that's popular with first-time homebuyers - government-insured FHA loans - dipped in March to 35.4 percent of all home purchase loans. That was down from an FHA share of 38.0 percent of purchase loans the prior month and down from 39.5 percent a year earlier.

See Miami home sale chart at DQNews.com.

April SoCal Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:10:00 +0000

Southland Home Sales and Median Price Climb Above Year-Ago Level

May 16, 2012

La Jolla, CA---Southern California’s median sale price rose year-over-year in April for the first time in 16 months, reflecting stronger, affordability-driven demand and a slimmer inventory of homes for sale – especially low-cost foreclosures. Last month’s sales were modestly higher than a year ago, thanks to significant gains in the coastal counties, but remained well below average, a real estate information service reported.

The median price paid for a Southland home last month was $290,000, up 3.6 percent from $280,000 in both March this year as well as April 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
Last month’s median was the highest since the median was also $290,000 in December 2010. The year-over-year gain in the April median was also the first since December 2010, when the median rose a scant 0.3 percent.

Although price pressures have no doubt formed in some areas, the year-over-year increase in the April median price also reflects two other trends: the decline in the share of sales that are foreclosed properties, which tend to sell at a discount and be concentrated in lower-cost areas, and a shift toward a greater portion of sales this April in the higher-cost coastal markets. In April last year, for example, sales in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties represented 68.0 percent of the region’s sales, compared with 71.5 percent last month.

April’s $290,000 Southland median was 17.4 percent above the low point for the current real estate cycle – $247,000 in April 2009 – and 42.6 percent below the $505,000 peak in mid 2007. The peak-to-trough drop was due to a decline in home values as well as a shift in sales toward lower-cost homes, especially inland foreclosures.

“The housing market continued its painfully slow crawl back toward normalcy last month. You can see it in the fading role of foreclosures, the uptick in median prices here and there, and the higher levels of sales in coastal counties,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“Of course, there are still a lot of things that make this market abnormal,” he said. “Investor and cash buying are still unusually robust. The jumbo loan market has yet to recover, and the use of plain-vanilla adjustable-rate mortgages, or ‘ARMs,’ remains far below normal. Lots of homeowners are ‘underwater,’ and the market remains awash in uncertainty over the economy, home prices, and the way lenders will handle the many thousands of homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments.”

Last month a total of 19,284 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties. That was down 3.4 percent from 19,953 in March, and up 5.1 percent from 18,344 in April 2011.

The change in sales between March and April has varied widely over the years. On average, sales have risen about 1 percent between those two months since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. On a year-over-year basis, Southland sales have increased for four consecutive months, and for eight out of the last nine months. However, last month’s sales were still 21.0 percent below the average for all the months of April since 1988.

The Southland housing market saw a modest uptick in mid-priced sales last month. But contrary to the general trend in recent years, sales of lower-cost homes fell. The latter is partly the result of the dwindling number of foreclosures re-selling and the overall decline in the inventory of homes for sale.

The number of homes that sold for less than $200,000 in April fell 4.7 percent from a year earlier, while the number that sold for between $200,000 and $400,000 rose 5.5 percent. Sales between $300,000 and $800,000 – a range that would include many move-up buyers – increased 3.5 percent year-over-year. The number of sales above $800,000 fell 3.0 percent from a year ago.

Distressed sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short” sales – made up about 47 percent of last month’s resale market. That was the lowest level since the figure was 45.1 percent in April 2008.

Foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 28.6 percent of the resale market last month, down from 31.5 percent in March and down from 33.8 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest since foreclosure resales were also 28.6 percent of the resale market in January 2008. In the current cycle, the figure hit a high of 56.7 percent in February 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.4 percent of Southland resales last month. That compares with 18.9 percent the month before and 17.3 percent a year earlier.

Credit remained tight last month but the influx of more traditional home buyers this spring has brought slightly higher levels of adjustable-rate financing and “jumbo” loans.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) accounted for 7.1 percent of last month’s Southland home purchase loans, up from 6.4 percent the prior month and down from 8.5 percent a year earlier. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 36 percent of purchase loans were ARMs.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 18.9 percent of last month’s purchase lending – the highest since December 2007. April’s figure was up from 16.4 percent the prior month and 17.4 percent a year ago. In the months leading up to the credit crisis that hit in August 2007, jumbos made up about 40 percent of the market.

Investor activity held near a record-high level in April, and the share of buyers paying cash remained at double the historical average.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 27.8 percent of the Southland homes sold last month. That was down from 28.2 percent the prior month and up from 25.4 percent a year earlier. The record was 29.9 percent in February this year. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $220,000, up from $212,000 the month before and $210,000 a year earlier.

Absentee buying was greatest in the Inland Empire, where it represented 35.8 percent of all homes sold last month, up from 35.6 percent the month before and 33.1 percent a year ago. Since 2000, the Southland’s absentee buyers have purchased a monthly average of about 17 percent of all homes sold.

Cash purchasers accounted for 31.5 percent of April home sales, down from 32.4 percent the month before and roughly even with 31.8 percent a year earlier. Cash buyers paid a median $225,000 last month, up from $215,000 the prior month and $210,000 a year ago. Since 2000, the monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is about 15 percent. Cash purchases are where there was no indication in the public record that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 29.3 percent of all purchase mortgages in April. Last month’s FHA level, which was the lowest for any month since August 2008, compared with 30.0 percent the month before and 33.5 percent a year earlier.

In April, 20.5 percent of all Southland home sales were for $500,000 or more, up from 19.6 percent the month before and the same as a year earlier. Last month’s level was the highest since July 2011, when it was 20.7 percent. The low point for $500,000-plus sales was in January 2009, when only 13.8 percent of sales were above that threshold. Over the past decade, a monthly average of about 28 percent of homes sold for $500,000 or more.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The typical monthly mortgage payment Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,096 last month, compared with $1,063 in March. Last month’s figure was down from $1,181 for the same month last year. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 53.6 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 62.0 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is much lower than peak levels reached in recent years. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.
County chart may be viewed at DQNews.com.

Source: DQNews.com Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

March Phoenix Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:04:00 +0000

Phoenix Region March Home Sales

Phoenix-area home sales dipped in March compared with a year earlier as buyers faced a dwindling supply of foreclosures and other sub-$100,000 properties on the market. With foreclosure resales at a nearly four-year low, the median sale price shot up 13.3 percent from March last year, marking the fourth consecutive month in which the median has risen year-over-year, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 10,005 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during March in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. That was up 22.2 percent from the month before and down 2.7 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

It’s normal for sales to rise sharply between February and March, with the gain between those two months averaging 29.4 percent since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Phoenix region statistics begin.

Total home sales in March were 4.1 percent short of the average number sold that month, mainly because new-home sales remain far below average. Resales of houses and condos in March were 12.6 percent above the historical average for that month. New-home sales were nearly 61 percent below average for a March. However, sales of newly built homes have risen year-over-year for nine consecutive months, and March's 942 new-home sales were the highest for that month in three years.

March home sales rose year-over-year in most price segments above $100,000. The number of new and resale homes that sold for less than $100,000 fell 26.2 percent from a year earlier, while sales between $100,000 and $200,000 increased 15.3 percent. Deals in the $200,000 to $600,000 range rose 14.9 percent from a year earlier, while sales over $500,000 increased 5.4 percent.

In March, the share of homes that sold for less than $100,000 was the lowest since June 2010. Sub-$100,000 deals fell to 30.6 percent of all transactions in March, down from 35.0 percent the month before and 40.8 percent a year earlier.

The median price paid in March for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Phoenix region was $135,900, which is the highest for any month since June 2010, when the median was $139,900. March's median rose 6.2 percent from the month before and rose 13.3 percent from a year earlier. The median's year-over-year increase in March followed annual gains of 7.5 percent in December last year and 6.7 percent in both January and February of this year.

March's median stood 48.5 percent below the all-time peak of $264,100 in June 2006, but it was 14.8 percent above the median’s post-peak trough of $118,347 in August 2011.

The median price paid for resale single-family detached houses in March rose to $135,000, up 6.3 percent from the prior month and up 13.4 percent from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. March's $89,500 median resale price for condos edged up 5.9 percent month-to-month and rose 12.6 percent from a year earlier – the fifth consecutive month with a year-over-year gain.

Another key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for existing single-family detached houses, increased in March to $76 – the highest since September 2009, when it was also $76. March's figure rose 5.6 percent from the month before and jumped 18.8 percent year-over-year. The median paid per square foot has risen year-over-year in four out of the last five months. The March figure stood 55.5 percent below the $171 peak median price paid per square foot in May and June of 2006.

At the county level in March, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses in Maricopa County rose to $79, up 3.9 percent from the prior month and up 14.7 percent from a year earlier. It was the fourth consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. The Pinal County median paid per square foot rose to $57 in March, up 9.6 percent from the prior month and up 28.1 percent from a year earlier, marking the sixth consecutive month to see a year-over-year increase.

Other Phoenix region March highlights:

Foreclosure resales, defined as homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months, fell to 31.8 percent of March resales – the lowest level since April 2008, when they were 31.5 percent. March’s figure was down from 34.3 percent the month before and 53.0 percent a year earlier. The peak level for foreclosure resales was 66.2 percent of all resales in March 2009.
Short sales represented an estimated 13.3 percent of March’s resale activity, down from 15.6 percent the prior month and up from an estimated 12.5 percent a year ago.
Lenders foreclosed on 2,387 Phoenix-area homes in March, down 6.9 percent from the month before and down 60.2 percent from a year earlier. The number of homes lost to foreclosure between January and March this year totaled 7,900, down 53.2 percent from the same period last year.
Absentee buyers, who include investors and vacation-home buyers, bought 46.1 percent of all Phoenix-area homes sold in March, up from 43.3 percent the month before and down from a record 47.1 percent a year earlier. In March, absentee buyers paid a median $116,900, up from $102,000 the month before and up 16.9 percent from $100,000 a year earlier.
Buyers paying cash represented 44.8 percent of March home sales, down from 45.5 percent the month before and down from 45.4 percent a year earlier. The record for cash buying was 48.0 percent in February 2011. March’s cash buyers paid a median $112,000, up from $101,000 the month before and up 26.6 percent from $88,500 a year earlier.
Buyers who had a foreign mailing address in the public record represented 4.9 percent of total Phoenix-area home sales in March. Of all homes bought by a buyer with a foreign mailing address, nearly 70 percent were resale single-family houses, while about 23 percent were resale condos and about 7 percent were newly built homes.

Home Sale Chart available at DQNews.com.

March Las Vegas Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:03:00 +0000

Las Vegas Region March Home Sales

Las Vegas-area home sales rose to the highest level for a March in six years amid a record level of absentee purchases, the most new-home sales since mid 2010, and continued strength in the sub-$200,000 market. The median price paid for a home in the region edged up from February but fell short of the year-ago level by the smallest amount in a year and a half, a real estate information service reported.

In March, 5,020 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 18.4 percent from the month before and up 1.4 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A jump in sales between February and March is normal. On average, sales have risen 28.4 percent between those two months since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas region statistics begin. March sales were 2.0 percent above the average number sold during that month since 1994, and were the highest for a March since March 2006, when 8,486 homes sold.

In March, 4,426 homes resold (excludes newly built homes), down 1.8 percent year-over-year. That year-over-year decline was the first in 16 months.

March’s 594 sales of newly-built homes represented a 33.2 percent year-over-year gain, marking the ninth consecutive month to post an annual increase. It was the highest new-home total for a March since 2008, when 1,127 new homes closed escrow, and the highest for any month since June 2010, when 918 new homes sold.

Continuing a months-long trend, March sales were strongest in the lower price ranges. The number of transactions below $100,000 rose 5.6 percent compared with a year earlier and represented 41.6 percent of all deals, compared with 40.0 percent of all sales in March 2011. The number of March 2012 sales below $200,000 rose 2.4 percent year-over-year. March sales above $300,000 fell 3.3 percent compared with a year ago, while sales above $500,000 dropped 1.2 percent.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in March was $115,000, up 2.7 percent from $112,000 in February and down 1.7 percent from $117,000 in March 2011. It was the second consecutive month in which the median rose month-to-month, but on a year-over-year basis the median has been falling for 18 consecutive months. However, March’s year-over-year dip was the smallest in that series.

Last month’s median was 63.1 percent below the November 2006 peak of $312,000. The January 2012 median was $110,000 – the lowest since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994.
The median’s recent decline to levels not seen since the mid 1990s can be attributed to several factors: home price depreciation; robust sales of low-cost foreclosures; robust sales to investors, who mainly target low-cost properties; relatively low new-home sales (new homes tend to sell for more than resale homes); and higher-than-usual condo resales (condos tend to be the least expensive homes).

March's new-home sales represented 11.8 percent of all transactions, compared with a monthly average of about 28 percent of all sales over the last decade. March’s condo sales represented 18.8 percent of total Las Vegas sales, compared with a 10-year monthly average of about 14 percent.

An alternative home-price gauge – the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – held steady in March at $65, the same as the month before but down 7.1 percent from a year earlier. (This January’s $64 median per square foot was the lowest since at least 1994.) The March figure was 65.8 percent lower than the peak $190 paid per square foot in May and June 2006.

Absentee buyers – mainly investors and vacation-home buyers – purchased a record 51.2 percent of all Las Vegas-area homes sold in March. That compares with 48.2 percent in February and 49.9 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers paid a median $95,000 in March, up from $90,000 in February and down from $99,750 a year earlier. Absentee buyers are those who indicated at the time of sale that the property tax bill will go to a different address.

Cash buyers purchased 54.4 percent of the Las Vegas-area homes that sold in March. That was up from a cash-buyer share of 52.9 percent of total sales in February and 54.0 percent a year earlier. The peak was 56.7 percent in February 2011. Cash purchases are where there is no sign of a corresponding purchase mortgage in the public record. March’s cash buyers paid a median $87,000, up from $84,500 in February and down from $88,450 a year earlier.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – continue to make up close to two-thirds of the Las Vegas resale market.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 48.9 percent of Las Vegas resale activity in March. That compares with 48.6 percent in February and 57.3 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009. Last month’s figure was the second-lowest for any month since July 2010.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 13.9 percent of the resale market last month. That compares with an estimated 14.8 percent the prior month and 11.6 percent a year ago.

In the wake of a new Nevada law that creates additional requirements for lenders trying to foreclose on properties, the number of notices of default (“NODs”) filed in Clark County has plummeted in recent months. In March, lenders filed 1,262 NODs, up 38.1 percent from the prior month and down 73.4 percent from a year earlier. The notice of default is the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

In March lenders foreclosed on 1,395 homes in the Las Vegas region, down 19.0 percent from the month before and down 58.1 percent from a year earlier. Between January and March this year, lenders foreclosed on 5,078 single-family house and condo units, down 39.1 percent from the same three-month period last year.
Home Sale Chart available at DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

1Q2012 California Home Foreclosures Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:42:00 +0000

Further Decline in California Foreclosure Activity

April 24, 2012

La Jolla, CA.--The number of California homes entering the formal foreclosure process during the first quarter declined to its lowest level in almost five years, the result of a more stable economy and housing market, as well as policies that increasingly favor short sales, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 56,258 Notices of Default (NODs) were recorded at county recorders offices during the first quarter of this year. That was down 8.5 percent from 61,517 for the prior three months, and down 17.6 percent from 68,239 in first-quarter 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last quarter's tally of 56,258 NODs was the lowest since 53,943 NODs were recorded in second-quarter 2007. NOD filings peaked in first-quarter 2009 at 135,431.

"Prices peaked five years ago and then started to fall off a cliff. Foreclosure activity goes up when property values decline, and the worst of that decline was happening three years ago. Right now, property values in many areas appear flat," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

"A few years back, there were some breathtakingly negative forecasts making the rounds regarding the foreclosure problem, some of which have played out, and some of which haven't. The 'shadow supply' has yet to result in a second huge wave of foreclosures. The 'reset problem' hasn't really materialized, largely because interest rates are resetting down, not up. And, remarkably, whole batches of presumed 'toxic' mortgages continue to perform. There's no doubt that housing, especially negative equity, is one of the biggest drags on a struggling economy, but it's not necessarily playing out the way some pundits thought," he said.

The most active "beneficiaries" in the formal foreclosure process last quarter were Bank of America (10,419), Wells Fargo (7,577), Bank of New York (5,380) and JP Morgan (5,343).

The trustees who pursued the highest number of defaults last quarter were ReconTrust Co (mostly for Bank of America and Bank of New York), Quality Loan Service Corp (Bank of America), NDEx West (Wells Fargo) and Cal-Western Reconveyance Corp (Wells Fargo).

Most of the loans going into default are still from the 2005-2007 period. The median origination quarter for defaulted loans is still third-quarter 2006. That has been the case for three years, indicating that weak underwriting standards peaked then.

Although NOD filings dropped across the home price spectrum last quarter, they remained far more concentrated in California's most affordable communities. Zip codes with first-quarter 2012 median sale prices below $200,000 collectively saw 8.9 NODs filed for every 1,000 homes in those zip codes, while the ratio was 5.6 NODs filed per 1,000 homes for zip codes with $200,000 to $800,000 medians. For the group of zip codes with median sale prices above $800,000, there were 2.3 NODs filed per 1,000 homes.

On primary mortgages, California homeowners were a median nine months behind on their payments when the lender filed the Notice of Default. The borrowers owed a median $17,897 on a median $319,418 mortgage.

On home equity loans and lines of credit in default, borrowers owed a median $4,978 on a median $75,000 credit line. The amount of the credit line that was actually in use cannot be determined from public records.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Notices of Default are recorded at county recorders offices and mark the first step of the formal foreclosure process.

Although 56,259 default notices were filed last quarter, they involved 55,368 homes because some borrowers were in default on multiple loans (e.g. a primary mortgage and a line of credit).

Of the state's larger counties, mortgages were least likely to go into default in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties. The probability was highest in Tulare, Sacramento and San Joaquin counties.

Trustees Deeds recorded (TDs), or the actual loss of a home to the formal foreclosure process, totaled 30,261 during the first quarter. That was down 3.2 percent from 31,260 filed the prior quarter, and down 29.7 percent from 43,052 during first-quarter 2011.

Last quarter's Trustees Deeds total was the lowest since the third quarter of 2007, when 24,209 were filed. The all-time peak was 79,511 in third-quarter 2008. The state's all-time low was 637 in the second quarter of 2005, DataQuick reported.

Just as with NOD filings, foreclosures remained far more concentrated in the state's most affordable neighborhoods. Zip codes with first-quarter 2012 median sale prices below $200,000 collectively saw 5.9 homes foreclosed on for every 1,000 homes, compared with 2.6 foreclosures per 1,000 homes for zip codes with medians between $200,000 and $800,000 and less than one - 0.8 - foreclosure per 1,000 homes in the group of zip codes with $800,000-plus medians.

While 1.45 million of California's 8.7 million houses and condos have been involved in a foreclosure proceeding over the past five years, 835,000 (9.6 percent) have been lost to foreclosure.

Foreclosure resales - homes that had been foreclosed on over the past 12 months - accounted for 33.5 percent of California resale activity last quarter, down from a revised 33.6 percent the prior quarter and 39.8 percent a year ago. The statewide figure peaked at 57.8 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Foreclosure resales varied significantly by county last quarter, from 9.0 percent in San Francisco County to 55.2 percent in Yuba County.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 20.2 percent of statewide resale activity last quarter. That was up from an estimated 19.6 percent the prior quarter and up from 18.1 percent a year earlier.

On average, homes foreclosed on last quarter took 8.5 months to wind their way through the formal foreclosure process, beginning with an NOD. That's down from an average of 9.7 months the prior quarter and 9.1 months a year earlier.

At formal foreclosure auctions held statewide last quarter, an estimated 33.4 percent of the foreclosed properties were bought by investors or others who don't appear to be lender or government entities. That was up from an estimated 29.2 percent the previous quarter and up from 23.2 percent from a year earlier, DataQuick reported.

County NOD and TD details are posted at DQNews.com

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

March California Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:20:00 +0000

California March Home Sales

April 19, 2012

An estimated 37,481 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was up 26.5 percent from 29,630 in February, and up 2.9 percent from 36,417 for March 2011.

A jump in sales from February to March is normal for the season. Last month's sales were the strongest for the month of March since 39,811 were sold in 2007. On a year-over-year basis, sales have increased the past eight months. California sales for the month of March have varied from a low of 24,565 in 2008 to a high of 68,848 in 2005, while the average is 43,883. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.

The median price paid for a home last month was $251,000, up 5.0 percent from $239,000 in February, and up 0.8 percent from $249,000 for March a year ago. The year-over-year increase was the first since September 2010. The bottom of the current cycle was $221,000 in April 2009, while the peak was $484,000 in early 2007.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – continued to make up more than half of California’s resale market.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 32.5 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year – the lowest level for any month since January 2008. Last month’s figure was down from a revised 33.9 percent in February and down from 39.1 percent in March 2011. The all-time high was in February 2009 at 58.5 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.9 percent of the resale market last month. That was down from 20.4 percent the month before and up from 18.5 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $901. That was up slightly from January's $893, which was the lowest since $882 in February 1999. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 59.8 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 67.4 percent below the 2006 peak of the current cycle.

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 is high, but well below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and cash and non-owner occupied buying remain at or near record levels, DataQuick reported.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or alepage@dqnews.com

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

March Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:38:00 +0000

Bay Area Home Sales Continue to Rise. Condo Sales Jump.

April 18, 2012

La Jolla, CA.--March home sales in the Bay Area were at their highest level for that month in five years, the result of lower prices, low interest rates and an improving economy. Prices appeared to be leveling off across more of the region and may be poised to start inching back up in the stronger submarkets, a real estate information service reported.

Last month 7,694 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area, up 34.9 percent from 5,702 in February, and up 9.1 percent from 7,051 in March 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The February to March sales jump is normal for the season. Last month’s sales count was the highest for the month of March since 8,317 homes were sold in 2007. Since 1988, March sales have ranged from 4,898 in 2008 to 12,645 in 2004. The average is 8,812.

“This is the time of year when buying patterns usually start to normalize. And while the changes we’re seeing are incremental, they’re incremental in a positive direction. That said, there’s a long way to go. Two of the big issues to watch closely are how fast distressed properties are being put on the market, and the availability of, or lack of availability of, mortgage financing,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month was $358,000. That was up 10.2 percent from $325,000 in February, and down 0.6 percent from $360,000 in March 2011. The median has declined on a year over year basis every month since October 2010, although last month’s decline was the smallest.

The low point of the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in March 2009. The peak was $665,000 in June/July 2007. Around half of the median’s peak-to-trough drop was the result of a decline in home values, while the other half reflected a shift in the sales mix.

The Bay Area saw a total of 1,734 condo resales last month, the most for any month since August 2006, when 1,783 were sold. The median price paid for resale condos was $276,000, up 10.4 percent from $250,000 a year ago. The resale condo median had declined on a year-over-year basis in 16 of the prior 17 months.

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up 44.3 percent of the resale market. That was down from 48.8 percent in February and 48.2 percent in March a year ago.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 24.9 percent of resales in March, the lowest since 23.2 percent in March 2008. Last month's figure was down from a revised 26.4 percent in February, and down from 31.5 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 17 years is about 10 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 19.4 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 22.4 percent in February and up from 16.7 percent a year earlier.

Last month 32.2 percent of Bay Area sales were for $500,000 or more, up from a revised 29.4 percent in February, and down from 34.7 percent in March 2011. The low for the current cycle was January 2009, when just 22.7 percent of sales crossed the $500,000 threshold. Over the past 10 years, a monthly average of 47.7 percent of homes sold for $500,000-plus.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 22.6 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in March, down from 22.9 percent in February and 28.5 percent a year earlier.

One indicator of mortgage availability that had seen improvement last year was low again in March, when 11.5 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). That was down from a revised 12.1 percent in February, and down from 13.7 percent in March last year. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 50.3 percent of all purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 30.5 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from a revised 27.2 percent in February, and down from 30.7 percent a year ago. Jumbo usage dropped to as low as 17.1 percent in January 2009. Before the credit crunch struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Bay Area purchase loan market.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 24.2 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, down from a revised 25.6 percent in February (the record since 2000) and up from 22.0 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $246,500 in March, up from $240,500 in February and $234,500 a year ago.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning there was no evidence of a corresponding purchase loan in the public record – accounted for 29.4 percent of sales in March. That was down from a record 31.5 percent in February, and up from 28.1 percent a year ago. The monthly average for cash purchases going back to 1988 is 12.3 percent of all sales. Cash buyers paid a median $240,000 in March, down from $242,000 in February and up from $235,000 a year earlier.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,359, up from $1,225 in February, and down from $1,518 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 51.4 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 64.1 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

County chart available at DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

March Southland Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:56:00 +0000

Southland Home Sales Up; Median Price Almost Back to Year-Ago Level

April 17, 2012

La Jolla, CA---Southern California home sales shot up last month from February amid the usual surge in early-spring shopping, but the gain over a year earlier was modest. Sales of $500,000-plus homes, though a bit lower than last year, jumped 36 percent from February, helping to lift the region’s overall median sale price to a six-month high – and to about where it was in March 2011, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 19,953 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 28.1 percent from 15,573 in February, and up 2.8 percent from 19,412 in March 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
It’s normal for sales to jump between February and March. On average, they've risen 37.0 percent between those two months since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. On a year-over-year basis, Southland sales have increased for three consecutive months, and for seven out of the last eight months. However, last month’s Southland sales total was still 18.6 percent below the average for all the months of March since 1988.

As in recent months, March’s year-over-year gain in sales wasn't seen across the price spectrum. Last month the number of transactions below $300,000 rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier, while the number sold between $200,000 and $400,000 rose 4.2 percent. Sales between $300,000 and $800,000 fell 0.6 percent year-over-year, and sales above $800,000 dipped 5.6 percent.

March sales of newly built homes rose almost 9 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. But March’s new-home tally was still the second-lowest for that month in DataQuick’s records back to 1988. Last month’s sales of existing (not new) resale single-family detached houses were the highest for a March since 2010, while resale condo sales were the lowest for that month since 2009.

“The year is young and lots could still change, but the results from the first big sales month of 2012 suggest the market is stuck in low gear. This remains a very gradual – not to mention fragile – recovery. Last month's big gain in sales from February was seasonal. A lot more people get out and shop for a home as the weather warms. More telling was the relatively small gain in sales activity compared with a year ago. It's a reminder that, for many potential buyers, lower prices and amazingly low mortgage rates still aren’t enough to get them over their hurdles: Tight credit, home values below what they owe on their mortgages, and uncertainties over the economy and home prices,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southland home last month was $280,000, up 5.8 percent from $264,750 in February but down 0.2 percent from $280,500 in March 2011. The March median was the highest since the median was also $280,000 last September. The year-over-year decline in the March median was the smallest since February 2011, when the $275,000 median was unchanged compared with a year earlier.

Last month’s median was 13.4 percent above the low point for the current real estate cycle – $247,000 in April 2009 – and 44.6 percent below the $505,000 peak in mid 2007. The peak-to-trough drop was due to a decline in home values as well as a shift in sales toward lower-cost homes, especially inland foreclosures.

Distressed sales made up about half of last month’s resale market.

Foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 31.1 percent of the resale market last month, down from 32.1 percent in February and down from 36.0 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest since foreclosure resales were 28.6 percent of the resale market in January 2008. In the current cycle, the figure hit a high of 56.7 percent in February 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.9 percent of Southland resales last month. That compares with 20.4 percent the month before and 18.5 percent a year earlier.

Credit remains tight. But the influx of more traditional buyers into the housing market during late winter and early spring brought slightly higher levels of adjustable-rate financing and “jumbo” loans last month.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) accounted for 6.2 percent of last month’s Southland home purchase loans, up from 5.8 percent the prior month and down from 7.9 percent a year earlier. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 36 percent of purchase loans were ARMs.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 16.4 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from 14.4 percent the month before and 16.2 percent a year earlier. In the months leading up to the credit crisis that struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for 40 percent of the market.

Investor activity held near record-high levels in March, and cash buying was more than double the historical average.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 27.9 percent of the Southland homes sold last month. That was down from a record 29.9 percent the prior month but up from 26.2 percent a year earlier. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $210,000, up from $197,750 the month before and down from $215,000 a year earlier. The Inland Empire saw absentee buying ease slightly last month to 35.5 percent of all homes sold, down from a record 37.3 percent in February and up from 26.2 percent a year earlier. Since 2000, the Southland’s absentee buyers have purchased a monthly average of 17.1 percent of all homes sold.

Cash purchasers accounted for 31.7 percent of March home sales, down from a record 33.7 percent the month before and up from 31.2 percent a year earlier. Cash buyers paid a median $214,000 last month, up from $210,000 the prior month and up from $211,000 a year earlier. Since 2000, the monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is 15.2 percent. Cash purchases are where there was no indication in the public record that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 30.1 percent of all purchase mortgages in March. Last month’s FHA level, which was the lowest for any month since August 2008, compared with 30.9 percent the month before and 31.7 percent a year earlier.

In March, 19.1 percent of all Southland home sales were for $500,000 or more – the highest level since last September, when it was 20.4 percent. Over-$500,000 sales made up 17.4 percent of all transactions the prior month and 20.3 a year earlier. The low point for $500,000-plus sales was in January 2009, when only 13.8 percent of sales were above that threshold. Over the past decade, a monthly average of 28.1 percent of homes sold for $500,000 or more.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,063 last month, compared with $998 in February. Last month’s figure was down from $1,185 for the same month last year. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 54.8 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 63.0 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last few years. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

County chart is available at DQNews.com

Source: DQNews.com Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2012 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

February Miami Region Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:48:00 +0000

Miami Region February Home Sales

April 2, 2012

Miami-area home sales rose last month to the highest level for a February in five years as an increase in activity above $200,000 made up for a decline in sales below that threshold. The shift toward more sales in mid- to high-end communities helped push the three-county region's median sale price up on a year-over-year basis for the second consecutive month, a real estate information service reported.

In February, 7,690 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was up 2.0 percent from the prior month and up 4.5 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

Typically sales in the Miami area drop between January and February. On average, sales between those two months have fallen 5.3 percent since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area statistics begin. The sales tally for this February got a boost from the leap year, which added one extra business day to the month.

February's total sales were 11.8 percent lower than the average February sales tally of 8,720 since 1997. However, if newly built homes are excluded from the sales mix, then the number of houses and condos that closed escrow in February was 4.7 percent above the historical average for that month. Although the Miami region's new-home sales rose 2.7 percent in February compared with a year earlier, and were the highest for that month since 2009, they were still 75 percent below the average of 1,802 sales for a February since 1997. New-home sales have risen year-over-year for the past four months.

When sliced up by price segment, February sales saw a year-over-year decline of 7.3 percent for homes priced below $100,000, and a 1.9 percent annual decline for homes below $200,000. Sales above $200,000 posted a 17.1 percent annual gain, while the increase was the same - 17.1 percent - for sales between $200,000 and $600,000. The number of homes that sold for more than $800,000 rose 13.7 percent from a year earlier.

In the Miami region's multi-million-dollar luxury market, the 55 homes that sold for $2 million or more in February represented a 5.8 percent increase from a year earlier. During the first two months of this year 111 homes have sold for $2 million or more, up 9.9 percent from the same two-month period in 2011. The figures are based on public property records, where either a price or loan amount was available.

In the overall market, the median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Miami region in February was $135,000, up 3.8 percent from January and up 12.5 percent from a year earlier (the highest increase since a 13.4 percent annual gain in April 2006). February's year-over-year increase was the second in a row. Prior to January this year, the median hadn't risen on a year-over-year basis since September 2007. The median stopped falling year-over-year in December 2011, when it was exactly the same as a year earlier.

Despite the sharp gain compared with a year ago, the February median stood 53.4 percent below the Miami area's peak $290,000 median in June 2007.

There are multiple reasons for the median's 12.5 percent increase compared with a year earlier, which followed a 6.1 percent year-over-year gain this January. In addition to widening price stability and any price pressures that might be forming in some submarkets, there was a shift toward more homes selling in mid- to higher-end neighborhoods. Also, a slightly higher share of resales this February were single-family detached houses, which typically sell for more than condos, and there was a slight gain in the portion of overall home sales occurring in Palm Beach and Miami Dade counties. (See below for details on the impact of a bulk purchase of relatively high-end condos in Miami Beach).

Palm Beach's overall median sale price was $130,000 in February, up 1.3 percent from a year ago, while the overall median was $160,000 in Miami-Dade County, up 18.5 percent from a year ago. The median for all homes sold in Broward County was $115,000, up 15.0 percent from a year earlier.

For resale single-family detached houses, Palm Beach's $173,500 median sale price in February was down 3.6 percent from a year ago, while Miami Dade's $155,000 median was up 3.3 percent and Broward's resale house median, which was also $155,000 in February, was up 5.8 percent year-over-year.

In the resale condo category last month, Miami-Dade County saw a dramatic gain in its median sale price. The resale condo median surged to $150,000, up 18.0 percent from January and up 42.9 percent from a year earlier. But there's a catch: About half of that annual increase can be explained by a bulk purchase of 181 condo units by a limited partnership in February at a single luxury hotel-condo project in Miami Beach (all of the transactions were recorded on the same day). Excluding the sale of those relatively high-end 181 condos, which ranged from $233,000 to $1,648,700 , Miami-Dade's resale condo median in February would have been about $20,000 lower, or $130,000. That would have made for a 2.4 percent increase in the resale condo median compared with January, and a 23.8 percent year-over year gain. Also, that single bulk purchase - with units selling for a median $391,800 - was enough to push the three-county region's overall median sale price up by $5,000 in February.

Another bulk purchase in February saw a limited liability company buy 38 existing condo units in Miami, paying a median $158,700 per unit.

Palm Beach's $80,000 resale condo median in February was flat compared with a year earlier, while Broward's $72,950 condo median rose 12.2 percent compared with February 2011.

Another key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, rose slightly in February to $86 for the overall region. That was up 1.8 percent from $85 in January and up 1.6 percent from February 2011. February's year-over-year gain was the first since June 2010, when it rose 1.0 percent. The February figure stood 55.2 percent below the peak of $211 reached in May 2006.

At the county level in February, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses was $76 in Broward County, the same as in January and up 3.3 percent from a year earlier - the second consecutive month to record an annual gain. The figure was $93 in Miami-Dade County, down 4.1 percent from January and up 2.6 percent from a year earlier - the third month to post an annual gain. Palm Beach County's median paid per square foot was $96 in February, up 5.5 percent from January and down 0.9 percent from a year earlier.

Driving much of the demand for condos and other lower-cost homes are absentee buyers, who purchased a record 42.6 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in February. That was up from the former record of 39.9 percent in January, and up from 38.3 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers are investors, second-home buyers and others who indicate at the time of sale that their property tax bill will be sent to a different address. (Absentee statistics go back to January 2000). Absentee buyers paid a median $102,000 for all new and resale houses and condos that they purchased in February, up from $94,899 in January and $82,500 in February 2011.

February buyers who had a foreign mailing addresses in the public record represented 5.9 percent of total Miami-area home sales for the month, and accounted for 9.3 percent of the region's sales of existing (not new) condos. Of all homes bought with a foreign mailing address last month, about 82 percent were existing condos. (Note: Not all foreign buyers use a foreign mailing address, hence cannot be tracked with public records.)

Nearly 75 percent of the Miami-area's February buyers with a foreign mailing address were from Canada, while the rest were split among more than 30 other nations, including Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Venezuela, Columbia and France.

Many absentee buyers are also cash buyers, who purchased a record 68.7 percent of the Miami-area homes sold in February. That was up from 64.4 percent the prior month and 68.2 percent a year earlier. The prior peak was 68.6 percent in March 2011. Last month's cash buyers paid a median $105,000, up from $95,000 in January and $89,000 a year earlier. Cash deals are where there was no indication of a purchase loan recorded at the time of sale.

Meanwhile, use of a form of low-down-payment financing that's popular with first-time homebuyers - government-insured FHA loans - rose slightly again in February, to 38.0 percent of all home purchase loans. That was up from an FHA share of 37.7 percent of purchase loans the prior month but down from 42.0 percent a year earlier.

Full Home Sale Chart is available at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

February Las Vegas Region Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:36:00 +0000

Las Vegas Region February Home Sales

The number of homes sold in the Las Vegas area rose last month to the highest level for a February in six years, with new-home transactions at a four-year high and resale activity the strongest since 2005. The median price paid for a home in the region edged up slightly from January, while the median’s year-over-year decline was the smallest in a year, a real estate information service reported.

In February, 4,240 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 5.0 percent from January and up 8.9 percent from February 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

An increase in sales between January and February is normal. On average, sales have risen 5.6 percent between those two months since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas region statistics begin. The sales tally for this February got a boost from the leap year, which added one extra business day to the month.

In February, 3,744 homes resold (excludes newly built homes), up 5.1 percent year-over-year. It was the 14th consecutive month in which resales have posted an annual gain, and marked the highest number of February resales since 3,875 sold in February 2005.

February’s 496 sales of newly-built homes represented a 51.2 percent year-over-year increase. It was the highest new-home total for a February since 2008, when 911 new homes closed escrow. The average number of new homes sold in the month of February since 1994 is 1,351. New-home sales have risen year-over-year for eight consecutive months.

Total February sales were 11.5 percent higher than the average number of homes sold in that month since 1994, while resale activity was 52.7 percent above average for a February.

Continuing a months-long trend, February sales were strongest in the lower price ranges. The number of transactions below $100,000 rose 18.9 percent compared with a year earlier and represented 42.8 percent of all deals, compared with 39.2 percent of all sales in February 2011. The number of February 2012 sales below $200,000 rose 11.2 percent year-over-year. February sales above $300,000 rose 1.1 percent compared with a year ago, while sales above $500,000 rose 4.4 percent.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in February was $112,000, up 1.8 percent from $110,000 in January and down 5.9 percent from $119,000 in February 2011. (The January 2012 median was the lowest since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994.) Last month’s figure was 64.1 percent below the November 2006 peak of $312,000. The median sale price has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 17 consecutive months. The median’s 5.9 percent year-over-year decline in February was the smallest for any month since February 2011, when it fell 5.7 percent.

The median’s recent decline to levels not seen since the mid 1990s can be attributed to several factors: home price depreciation; robust sales of low-cost foreclosures; robust sales to investors, who mainly target low-cost properties; relatively low new-home sales (new homes tend to sell for more than resale homes); and higher-than-usual condo resales (condos tend to be the least expensive homes).

February's new-home sales represented 11.7 percent of all transactions, compared with a monthly average of about 28 percent of all sales over the last decade. February’s condo sales represented 18.6 percent of total Las Vegas sales, compared with a 10-year monthly average of about 14 percent.

An alternative home-price gauge – the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – inched up in February to $65, up 1.6 percent from January and down 7.1 percent from a year earlier. (January’s figure was the lowest since at least 1994.) Last month’s median paid per square foot was 65.8 percent lower than the peak $190 paid per square foot in May and June 2006.

Cash buyers purchased 52.9 percent of the Las Vegas-area homes that sold in February. That was down from a cash-buyer share of 53.7 percent of total sales in January and down from a record 56.7 percent a year earlier. Cash purchases are where there is no sign of a corresponding purchase mortgage in the public record.

February’s cash buyers paid a median $84,500, up from $80,000 in January and down from $90,242 a year earlier.

Absentee buyers – mainly investors and vacation-home buyers – purchased a near-record 48.2 percent of all Las Vegas-area homes sold in February. That compares with 49.1 percent in January and 49.7 percent a year earlier. The record was 49.9 percent in March last year. Absentee buyers paid a median $90,000 in February, the same as in January and down from $97,563 a year earlier. Absentee buyers are those who indicated at the time of sale that the property tax bill will go to a different address.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up nearly two-thirds of the Las Vegas resale market last month.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 48.7 percent of Las Vegas resale activity in February. That was down from 52.6 percent in January and 56.7 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009. Last month’s figure was the lowest since foreclosure resales made up 45.2 percent of the resale market in June 2010.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 14.7 percent of the resale market last month. That compares with an estimated 13.9 percent the prior month and 14.0 percent a year ago.

In the wake of a new Nevada law that creates additional requirements for lenders trying to foreclose on properties, the number of notices of default (“NODs”) filed in Clark County plummeted in recent months. In February, lenders filed 914 NODs, down 12.8 percent from the 1,048 filed in January and down 84.2 percent from the 5,793 NODs filed in February 2011. The notice of default is the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

The number of homes lost to foreclosure in the Las Vegas region in February fell to 1,723, down 12.1 percent from January and down 26.7 percent from a year earlier. So far this year, lenders have foreclosed on 3,683 single-family house and condo units, down 26.5 percent from the same two-month period last year.
Full chart available at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

February California Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:33:00 +0000

California February Home Sales

March 15, 2012

An estimated 29,630 new and resale houses and condos were sold across California last month. That was up 5.4 percent from 28,111 in January, and up 8.5 percent from 27,320 in February 2011.

A slight increase in sales from January to February is normal for the season. Last month's sales were the strongest for a February since 31,228 homes were sold in 2007. On a year-over-year basis, sales have increased the past seven months. Statewide sales for the month of February have varied from a low of 20,513 in 2008 to a high of 48,409 in 2004, while the average is 32,017. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.

The median price paid for a California home last month was $239,000, up 1.3 percent from $236,000 in January, and down 2.0 percent from $244,000 for February a year ago. The median has decreased on a year-over-year basis for the last 17 months. The median’s low point for the current cycle was $221,000 in April 2009, while its peak was $484,000 in early 2007.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – continued to make up more than half of California’s resale market.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 34.3 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was unchanged from January and down from 40.1 percent in February a year ago. The high point for the current cycle was in February 2009 at 58.5 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 20.9 percent of the resale market last month. That was down from 21.2 percent the month before and up from 18.7 percent a year earlier. Two years ago short sales made up an estimated 17.5 percent of the resale market.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $901. That was up slightly from January's $893, which was the lowest since $882 in February 1999. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 59.8 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 67.4 percent below the 2006 peak of the current cycle.

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 is high, but well below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and cash and non-owner occupied buying remain at or near record levels, DataQuick reported.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or alepage@dqnews.com

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

February Bay Area Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:26:00 +0000

Bay Area February Home Sales at Five-year High

March 15, 2012

La Jolla, CA.--Last month’s Bay Area home sales bounced up a bit more off bottom, fueled in large part by investors with cash who were buying discounted properties in the lower half of the price spectrum. The median price paid for a home dropped year-over-year for the 17th month in row, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 5,702 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area in February. That was up 4.1 percent from 5,479 in January, and up 14.2 percent from 4,991 in February 2011. The year-over-year sales increase was the eighth in a row, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

A January-to-February sales increase is normal for the season. Last month’s sales count, which got a lift from an extra business day thanks to the leap year, was the highest for a February since 6,305 were sold in 2007. It was 9.0 percent below the February average of 6,268 sales going back to 1988. The sales pace for most months last year was 25 percent to 38 percent below average.

“The market is still strange, just a little less strange than it was. We also need to keep in mind that, when it comes to statistical trends, February is the least typical month of the year. Over the winter you’re left with a higher concentration of investors and people who must buy or sell because of a major life event. In the spring, when many traditional buyers return, we’ll get a much better read on the market. Meanwhile, many potential buyers are still waiting for the lending spigot to open more. Drum-tight credit conditions continue to undermine housing, along with negative equity and the various uncertainties plaguing would-be buyers,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month was $325,500. That was down 0.3 percent from $326,000 in January, and down 3.6 percent from $337,250 in February 2011. The median has declined on a year over year basis every month since October 2010.

The low point of the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in March 2009. The peak was $665,000 in June/July 2007. Around half of the median’s peak-to-trough drop was the result of a decline in home values, while the other half reflected a shift in the sales mix.

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up about half of the Bay Area’s resale market.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 27.4 percent of resales in February. That was up from a revised 27.2 percent in January, and down from 32.6 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked in the current cycle at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 15 years is about 9 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 23.1 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down slightly from an estimated 23.5 percent in January – the high point for this cycle – and up from 20.1 percent a year earlier.

Last month 28.0 percent of Bay Area sales were for $500,000 or more, up from a revised 27.4 percent in January, and down from 30.6 percent in February 2011. The low for the current cycle was January 2009, when just 22.7 percent of sales crossed the $500,000 threshold. Over the past 10 years, a monthly average of 47.7 percent of homes sold for $500,000-plus.

The number of homes that sold for $500,000 or more last month rose 1.8 percent from February 2011, while sales under $500,000 rose 14.9 percent year-over-year and sales below $300,000 increased 16.8 percent.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 23.2 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in February, up from 23.0 percent in January and 23.1 percent a year earlier.

One indicator of mortgage availability that had seen improvement last year was low again in February, when 11.8 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). That was up from a revised 11.7 percent in January, and the same as in February last year. Over the last decade, ARMs have accounted for 50.8 percent of all purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 26.6 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from a revised 23.5 percent in January, and down from 26.9 percent a year ago. Jumbo usage dropped to 17.1 percent in January 2009. Before the credit crunch struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Bay Area purchase loan market.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased a record 26.0 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, up from a revised 25.2 percent in January and 23.4 percent a year ago. The monthly average for absentee purchases is 14.2 percent since January 2000, when the absentee data series begins. Absentee buyers paid a median $230,000 in February, up from $225,000 in January and down from $243,000 a year ago.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 32.0 percent of sales in February. That was an all-time high in DataQuick’s records back to 1988. Last month’s figure was up from 29.9 percent in January, and up from 30.6 percent a year ago. The monthly average going back to 1988 is 12.0 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $247,000 in February, up from $237,500 in January and down from $250,000 a year earlier.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,225, down from $1,233 in January, and down from $1,440 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was a record low. It was 55.7 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 67.3 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but below peak levels reached over the last three years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

See County chart at DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, http://www.dqnews.com/

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

February Southland Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:23:00 +0000

Southland Home Sales Jump in February, Prices Still Down Yr/Yr

March 14, 2012

La Jolla, CA---The Southland housing market posted the highest number of February home sales in five years as record levels of investor and cash buyers helped spur robust activity under $300,000. The median price paid for homes across the six-county region inched up from January but dropped below the year-earlier level for the 12th consecutive month, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 15,573 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 7.2 percent from 14,523 in January, and up 8.4 percent from 14,369 in February 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The increase in sales between January and February was larger than usual. On average, sales have risen 1.1 percent between those two months since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. Southland sales have increased year-over-year for two consecutive months and for six out of the last seven months. However, last month’s sales tally was 12.3 percent below the average for all the months of February since 1988.

Sales did not rise across the price spectrum last month. Transactions below $300,000 rose 9.5 percent from a year earlier, while the number of $300,000-$800,000 deals dipped 0.8 percent year-over-year and sales above $800,000 fell 12.6 percent.

“February sales got a big boost from investors and others paying cash for relatively affordable homes, as well as from an extra day’s worth of sales thanks to the leap year. Without the latter, sales might have been up a bit, but not to a five-year high. It’s just one more reason for us to remind everyone that January and February usually aren’t good months to use for forecasting purposes. The big picture remains one where the bottom of the housing market continues to see much of the action, while move-up activity remains sluggish. Financing is still difficult for many and lots of potential move-up buyers and sellers are stuck because they owe more than their homes are worth,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southland home last month was $264,750, up 1.8 percent from $260,000 in January but down 3.7 percent from $275,000 in February 2011.

Last month’s median was 7.2 percent above the low point for the current real estate cycle – $247,000 in April 2009 – and 47.6 percent below the $505,000 peak in mid 2007. The peak-to-trough drop was due to a decline in home values as well as a shift in sales toward lower-cost homes, especially inland foreclosures.

Distressed sales continued to make up more than half of the resale market.

Foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 32.5 percent of the resale market last month, down from a revised 32.6 percent in January and down from 37.0 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales hit a high for the current cycle of 56.7 percent in February 2009 and a low of 31.6 percent last November.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 20.5 percent of Southland resales last month. That compares with 21.1 percent in January, which was a high point for the current real estate cycle, and 19.7 percent in February 2011.

Credit conditions remained tight.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) accounted for 5.7 percent of last month’s Southland home purchase loans, down from 6.0 percent in January and 7.7 percent a year ago. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 37 percent of purchase loans were ARMs.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 14.4 percent of last month’s purchase lending, down from 15.2 percent in January and down from 15.6 percent a year earlier. In the months leading up to the credit crisis that struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for 40 percent of the market.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought a record 29.7 percent of the Southland homes sold in February, up from a revised 28.0 percent in January and 26.4 percent a year earlier. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $192,750, down from $195,000 in February and $202,000 a year earlier. The Inland Empire saw absentee purchases rise to a record 37.2 percent of all sales. Since 2000, the Southland’s absentee buyers have purchased a monthly average of 17.0 percent of all homes sold.

Cash purchasers accounted for a record 32.8 percent of February home sales, up from 32.2 percent in January and up from 32.3 percent a year earlier. Cash buyers paid a median $200,000 last month, the same as in January and down from $205,000 a year earlier. Since 2000, the monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is 15.2 percent. Cash purchases are where there was no indication in the public record that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 31.2 percent of all purchase mortgages in February. Last month’s FHA level was up from 31.1 percent in January and down from 32.2 percent a year earlier. Two years ago FHA loans made up 36.8 percent of the purchase loan market, while three years ago it was 36.9 percent.

Last month 16.5 percent of all sales were for $500,000 or more, up a hair from a revised 16.4 percent in January but down from 18.7 percent a year earlier. The low point for $500,000-plus sales was in January 2009, when only 13.8 percent of sales were above that threshold. Over the past decade, a monthly average of 28.1 percent of homes sold for $500,000 or more.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $998 last month, compared with $983 in January, which when adjusted for inflation was the lowest in DataQuick’s records back to 1988. Last month’s figure was down from $1,174 for the same month last year. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 56.9 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 64.7 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last few years. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

County chart is available at DQNews.com.

Source: DQNews.com Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

January Denver Area Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:26:00 +0000

Denver Area January Home Sales

The number of homes sold in the Denver region in January fell more than usual from December but rose year-over-year to the highest level for that month since 2008. The median sale price also dipped month-to-month but was higher than a year earlier for the first time since last June. Some other price measures also showed modest year-over-year gains, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 2,467 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in January across the eight-county Denver-Aurora metro area. That was down 27.7 percent from the prior month but up 4.4 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A drop in sales between December and January is normal for the season, with the decline averaging 21.8 percent since 1998, when DataQuick's complete Denver-area statistics begin. January sales fell 31.6 percent below average for that month.

Denver-area sales for all of 2011 totaled 44,416, up 1.6 percent from 2010 and the highest since 2009. New-home sales totaled 4,011 in 2011 and were the lowest for any year since at least 1998.

The Denver metro area statistics in this report and in the table below reflect sales in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Park counties.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Denver region during January was $205,000, down 2.4 percent from the month before and up 6.8 percent from a year earlier. It was the first annual gain in the all-home median sale price since June 2011, when it rose 1.1 percent year-over-year.
The January median was 17.2 percent lower than the Denver area's peak $247,569 median in June 2006. After peaking, the region's median sale price fell to as low as $170,000 in January 2009.

The median price paid in January for resale single-family detached houses fell 3.1 percent from December but rose 4.6 percent above a year earlier - the first annual gain since last June, when the resale house median posted a 0.4 percent increase. The median paid for resale condos in January dipped 5.5 percent month-to-month and fell 1.5 percent year-over-year.

An alternative price gauge analysts track, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, slipped to $133 in January, down 0.7 percent from the prior month and up 3.9 percent from a year earlier - the first annual gain since last June. The January figure was 21.5 percent lower than the peak $169 paid per square foot in March 2001.

The region's larger counties recorded the following year-over-year changes in January to their median price paid per square foot for resale houses: Adams County, down 1.3 percent; Arapahoe County, up 4.2 percent; Denver County, up 5.0 percent; Douglas County, up 1.4 percent; and Jefferson County, up 2.2 percent.

Absentee buyers, a group that includes investors and vacation-home buyers, accounted for a near-record 27.9 percent of the Denver area's January home sales, up from 26.7 percent the month before and 27.4 percent a year earlier. The record was 28.4 percent in February 2011. Absentee buyers paid a median $141,500 in January, up 1.1 percent from the prior month and up 8.8 percent from a year earlier.

Buyers who appeared to have bought with cash represented 28.0 percent of January sales, up from 26.6 percent the prior month and down from 31.2 percent a year earlier. The figure peaked at 32.1 percent in February 2011. All-cash buyers paid a median $150,000 in January, up 7.2 percent from the prior month and up 20.5 percent from a year earlier. Government-insured FHA loans, which are popular with first-time buyers and others using low down payments, accounted for 35.1 percent of all home purchase loans used in January. That was up from 32.8 percent the month before and down from 38.3 a year earlier. FHA use in the current cycle peaked at 53.4 percent of all purchase loans in November 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 12.2 percent of the Denver region's resale transactions in January, up from 11.1 percent the prior month and 10.4 percent a year earlier.

In neighboring Boulder County, 233 new and resale houses and condos sold in January, down 22.8 percent from the prior month and down 3.3 percent from a year earlier. The median price paid for all homes sold in the county during January was $290,850, down 6.2 percent from the prior month and up 1.1 percent from a year earlier. Boulder County's median price paid per square foot for resale detached houses dipped in January to $183, down 6.2 percent from the month before and down 3.7 percent from a year earlier.

Denver Chart is available at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

January Portland Region Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 01:11:00 +0000

Portland Region January Home Sales

The number of homes sold in the Portland area during January rose to the highest level for that month in four years, while the median price paid for those houses and condos dropped to a seven-and-a-half-year low. Distressed property sales and purchases by absentee buyers hovered near record levels, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 1,729 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during January in the five-county Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area. Sales fell 23.5 percent from the prior month but rose 10.5 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A drop in sales between December and January is normal for the season, with the decline averaging 23.9 percent since 1994, when DataQuick's complete Portland-area statistics begin.

The January sales total was the highest for that month since 2008, when 1,985 homes sold. This January's sales fell 29.3 percent below the average sales tally for the month since 1994.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos that closed escrow in the Portland region during January was $195,000, down 4.9 percent from the prior month and down 8.4 percent from a year earlier.

January's median was 32.5 percent lower than the peak $289,000 median in October 2007, and it was the lowest for any month since it was $193,000 in June 2004.

Another price measure analysts track, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, fell to $123 in January. That was down 3.1 percent month-to-month and down 4.7 percent year-over-year, while it was 36.2 percent below its June 2007 peak of $193.

The region's median price paid per square foot for existing (not new) condos was $113 in January, up slightly from $112 the prior month but down 8.1 percent from a year earlier.

Among the Portland region's counties, the median paid per square foot in January for resale single-family detached houses fell 1.4 percent from a year ago in Clackamas County, while the median rose 3.1 percent year-over-year in Multnomah County. The price per square foot figure dipped 7.3 percent year-over-year in Washington County, dropped 8.3 percent in Yamhill County and fell 10.4 percent in Clark County, Washington.

Sales of distressed properties represented roughly 42 percent of the resale market in January - just off the February 2011 peak of 43.4 percent.

Foreclosure resales - homes foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - made up 26.0 percent of January's resale market, up from 21.2 percent the prior month but down from 30.4 percent a year earlier. January's figure was the highest since it was 26.3 percent last May.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - accounted for an estimated 15.8 percent of January's resale market, up from an estimated 14.4 percent the prior month and 11.8 percent a year earlier.

On the foreclosure front, lenders foreclosed on 487 single-family houses and condo units in the five-county Portland area during January, up 0.4 percent from the month before and up 3.7 percent from a year earlier. During all of 2011, foreclosures totaled 5,940, down 21.7 percent from 2010. The foreclosure figures are based on the number of Trustees Deeds filed with county recorder offices. The document signals that a home was lost to foreclosure.

Many foreclosed properties are bought by investors and first-time buyers.

Absentee buyers, which includes investors and vacation-home buyers, accounted for 23.7 percent of total January home sales, up from 18.2 percent the month before and 20.9 percent a year ago. The peak for absentee buyers was 24.4 percent in January 2006 (the data series goes back to 2000). Absentee buyers paid a median $165,000 in January, up from $155,000 the month before and $163,450 a year earlier.
Among these investors are many buyers who pay cash - a group that accounted for 27.3 percent of all homes sold during January. That was up from 26.1 percent the month before but down from 31.6 percent a year earlier. Cash buyers paid a median $152,000 in January, down from $165,000 the month before and $173,238 a year earlier.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular, low-down-payment option for many first-time buyers, represented 28.8 percent of all home purchase loans used in the Portland area in January. That was up from 27.5 percent the month before but down from 31.5 percent a year ago. The peak for FHA use during the current housing cycle was 42.3 percent in November 2009.

The Portland metro area statistics in this report and in the table below reflect sales in Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington.

See chart at DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

January Seattle Region Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:28:00 +0000

Seattle Region January Home Sales

Seattle-area home sales rose to the highest level for a January in four year as increased affordability helped drive sub-$200,000 sales up more than 30 percent from a year earlier. Regional price measures continued to trend lower, with the overall median sale price dipping to its lowest point in eight years, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 2,513 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during January in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area encompassing King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. January's total sales fell 31.7 percent from the month before but increased 13.5 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A drop in sales between December and January is normal, with that decline averaging 25.5 percent since 1994, when DataQuick's complete Seattle-area statistics begin.

January sales were the highest for that month since 2,828 homes sold in January 2008, but this January's sales were still 24.7 percent below the historical average for the month.

Total sales were tugged lower by the weak new-home market. Although January sales of newly built houses and condos rose 19.6 percent from a year earlier, they were still the second-lowest on record for that month. The Seattle-area resale market continues to fare much better, posting a 12.6 percent sales gain from a year earlier. Resales of houses and condos in January were the highest for that month in five years, though they were 18.2 percent below the historical average for the month.

January's year-over-year sales gain was mainly the result of plentiful sales of lower-cost homes. The number that sold for less than $200,000 rose 32.4 percent from a year earlier, at least partly the result of improved affordability resulting from price declines and ultra-low mortgage rates. Sales between $200,000 and $600,000 fell 2.5 percent in January compared with a year earlier, while sales in the $600,000 to $900,000 range increased 2.8 percent. (Note: $600,000-to-$900,000 sales represented 6.4 percent of January transactions, while sub-$200,000 deals accounted for 38.5 percent of the market and $200,000-to-$600,000 sales accounted for 52.5 percent).

Across all price segments in January, buyers paid a median $238,000 for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the three-county Seattle region. That was down 5.7 percent from the prior month and down 8.5 percent from a year earlier. The median has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 18 consecutive months.

January's median was 34.8 percent lower than the Seattle area's peak $365,200 median in June 2007. The last time the median was lower than January's was when it was $235,000 in January 2004.

Another key price measure, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, dipped to $143 in January - the lowest since it was also $143 in April 2003. January's figure fell 5.9 percent from December and fell 7.1 percent from a year earlier. The median paid per square foot has fallen year-over-year for 17 consecutive months and in January was 40.2 percent lower than the peak $239 median paid per square foot in June 2007.

At the county level in January, the median price paid per square foot for resale detached houses fell 1.6 percent year-over-year in King County, while it dropped 10.6 percent from a year ago in Pierce County and fell 0.5 percent in Snohomish County.

Distressed property sales - foreclosure resales and "short sales" combined - represented 46.0 percent of the Seattle area's resale market in January, which was the highest since it was 47.1 percent last September.

Foreclosure resales - properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - represented 32.5 percent of the resale market in January, up from 29.1 percent the prior month and up from 30.1 percent a year earlier. The peak was 32.8 percent in March 2011.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 16.9 percent of the Seattle-area's January resales. That was up from an estimated 16.2 percent the month before and up from 15.9 percent a year earlier.

In January, lenders foreclosed on 601 single-family houses and condo units in the region, down 40.8 percent from the month before and down 45.4 percent from a year earlier. During all of last year, 13,089 homes were foreclosed on in the Seattle area, up 12.3 percent from 2010. The figures are based on the number of Trustees Deeds filed with county recorder offices.

Investors and first-time buyers continue to snap up many of the distressed properties.

Absentee buyers - mainly investors - accounted for 19.9 percent of the Seattle area's January home sales, about even with 19.3 percent the month before and up from 18.7 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers paid a median $169,900 in January, down 12.8 percent from the month before and down 18.9 percent from a year earlier. While many of these buyers are investors, they can include second-home buyers and others who indicated at the time of sale that the property tax bill would be sent to a different address.

Many investors are among the cash buyers, who accounted for 21.7 percent of January sales, down from 24.7 percent the prior month and 23.4 percent a year earlier. Cash buyers paid a median $172,000 in January, down 22.5 percent month-to-month and down 20.0 percent year-over-year.

In January, 26.7 percent of Seattle-area purchase mortgages were government-insured FHA loans, a popular, low-down-payment choice among first-time home buyers. That was up from 23.7 percent of home purchase loans the prior month but down from 29.3 percent a year earlier. The region's FHA level peaked for the current cycle at 39.9 percent in October 2009.

The full home sale chart is available at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

January Phoenix Region Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Phoenix Region January Home Sales

Phoenix-area January home sales rose to the highest level for that month in five years as several price measures trended higher again on a year-over-year basis, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 7,123 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during January in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. That was down 17.9 percent from the month before but up 3.2 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

It’s normal for sales to drop between December and January, with that decline averaging 21.7 percent since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Phoenix region statistics begin.

Total January home sales fell 3.1 percent short of the average number sold in January since 1994, but that was only because new-home sales remained very low. Resale volume in January was 17.5 percent higher than the January average, and it was the highest for that month since January 2006. January sales of newly built homes rose 31.3 percent year-over-year, to the highest level for a January since 2009. But this January’s new-home sales were still 66.0 percent below average for the month.

January home sales rose year-over-year in most price segments above $100,000. The number of new and resale homes that sold for less than $100,000 fell 7.3 percent from a year earlier, while sales between $100,000 and $200,000 increased 3.3 percent. Deals in the $200,000 to $600,000 range rose 9.0 percent from a year earlier, while above $800,000 sales increased 3.6 percent.

The median price paid in January for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Phoenix region was $127,500. That was down 1.2 percent from the month before but up 7.1 percent from a year earlier. January marked the second month in a row in which the overall median sale price rose year-over-year. (In December 2011 the Phoenix area’s median posted a 7.5 annual gain.)

January’s median was 51.7 percent below the all-time peak of $264,100 in June 2006, but it was 7.7 percent above the median’s post-peak trough of $118,347 last August.

The median price paid for resale single-family detached houses in January rose to $125,900, up 0.7 percent from the prior month and up 5.0 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month to post a year-over-year gain (the December 2011 resale house median rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier). The $78,500 median resale price for condos in January dipped slightly month-to-month but rose 9.0 percent from a year earlier – the third consecutive month with a year-over-year gain.

Another key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for existing single-family detached houses, increased in January to $71 – the highest since August 2010. January’s figure was up from $70 the month before and up 9.2 percent year-over-year, marking the second consecutive month to post an annual gain, and the third consecutive month without an annual decline. The January figure stood 58.5 percent below the $171 peak median price paid per square foot in May and June of 2006.

At the county level in January, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses in Maricopa County rose to $74, up 1.4 percent from the prior month and up 8.6 percent from a year earlier. It was the second consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. The Pinal County median paid per square foot rose to $51 in January, up 2.0 percent from the prior month and up 13.7 percent from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive month to post a year-over-year gain.

Other Phoenix region January highlights:

*Buyers paying cash represented 45.6 percent of all January sales, up from 41.0 percent the month before and down from 46.0 percent a year earlier. The record for cash buying was 48.0 percent in February 2011. January’s cash buyers paid a median $97,700, up from $94,900 the month before and up 10.0 percent from $88,854 a year earlier.

*Distressed property sales dropped to 52.1 percent of all January resale activity – the lowest level for any month since the figure was 48.2 percent in June 2008. Distressed sales are made up of sales of foreclosed properties, as well as “short sales,” where the sale price falls short of what was owed on the property.

*Foreclosure resales, defined as homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months, fell to 36.3 percent of January resales – the lowest level since May 2008. January’s figure was down from 37.7 percent the month before and 54.5 percent a year earlier. The peak level for foreclosure resales was 66.2 percent in March 2009.

*Short sales represented an estimated 15.8 percent of January’s resale activity, down from 17.2 percent the prior month but up from an estimated 12.9 percent a year ago.

*Lenders foreclosed on 2,939 Phoenix-area homes in January, down 9.2 percent from the month before and down 41.3 percent from a year earlier.

See home sale chart at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

January Miami Region Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:01:00 +0000

Miami Region January Home Sales

March 2, 2012

The number of homes sold in the Miami area in January dipped below the year-ago level as sub-$200,000 transactions fell, tugging down the region's overall sales tally despite annual gains for mid- to high-end deals. The median sale price rose on a year-over-year basis for the first time in 52 months - just one of several indications of widening price stability, a real estate information service reported.

In January, 7,443 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was down 17.1 percent from the prior month and down 3.3 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

It's normal for sales to drop between December and January. On average, sales between those two months have fallen 19.1 percent since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area statistics begin.

January's total sales were 19.0 percent lower than the average January sales tally of 9,187 since 1997. However, if newly built homes are excluded from the sales mix, then the number of houses and condos that closed escrow in January was just 3.3 percent below the historical average for that month. Although the Miami region's new-home sales rose 7.4 percent in January compared with a year earlier, they were still the second-lowest on record for that month. New-home sales have risen year-over-year for the past three months.

When sliced up by price segment, January sales saw year-over-year gains in the middle and top of the market and declines at the bottom. Sales below $100,000 fell 11.6 percent from a year earlier (the decline was 8.1 percent for sub-$200,000 sales), compared with a 4.2 percent annual gain for sales between $200,000 and $600,000 and a 24.1 percent annual increase for deals over $800,000.

In the Miami region's multi-million-dollar luxury market, the 56 homes that sold for $2 million or more in January represented a 14.3 percent increase from a year earlier. In all of 2011, $2 million-plus home sales rose 13.5 percent compared with 2010. The figures are based on public property records, where either a price or loan amount was available.

In the overall market, the median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Miami region in January was $130,000, down 3.7 percent from December but up 6.1 percent from a year earlier. January's year-over-year increase was the first since September 2007. The median stopped falling on a year-over-year basis in December 2011, when it was exactly the same as a year earlier.

The January median stood 55.2 percent below the peak $290,000 median in June 2007.
The median price paid for resale houses in the three-county area was $162,000 in January, down 1.8 percent from December but up 1.3 percent from a year earlier, marking the first year-over-year gain since May 2010. January's $90,000 resale condo median sale price was the same as the month before (and each month back to last October) and was 12.5 percent higher than a year earlier. The resale condo median has risen on a year-over-year basis for four consecutive months, with January's gain being the largest.

Another key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, dipped slightly in January to $85. That was down 1.4 percent from $86 in both December 2011 and January 2011. January's year-over-year decline was the smallest since the median paid per square foot went negative year-over-year in July 2010. The January figure stood 55.9 percent below the peak of $211 reached in May 2006 and was just slightly higher than the post-peak trough of $84, which it reached last February and October.

For resale condos, Miami region buyers paid a median $82 a square foot in January, down from $84 in December but up 8.2 percent from a year earlier. January's year-over-year gain was the fourth in a row, and the largest. The January median was 60.9 percent lower than the all-time peak of $199 paid per square foot for resale condos in June 2007, but it was also 10.3 percent higher than the post-peak trough of $75 last March.

At the county level in January, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses rose to $76 in Broward County, up 2.3 percent from December and up 2.0 percent from a year earlier. The figure dipped slightly to $93 in Miami-Dade County, down 1.4 percent from December but up 2.0 percent from a year earlier. For both Broward and Miami-Dade counties it was the first year-over-year increase since last September. Palm Beach County's median paid per square foot fell to $91 in January, down 5.2 percent from December and down 6.8 percent from a year earlier.

For resale condos, Broward County saw it's median price paid per square foot dip month-to-month to $70 in January, compared with $74 in December. But the figure rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier, marking the eighth consecutive month in which Broward's median paid per square foot for resale condos has risen year-over-year. Miami-Dade saw it's resale condo price per square foot dip to $120 in January compared with December's $122, but on a year-over-year basis it was up 23.3 percent, marking the seventh consecutive month to post a year-over-year gain. Palm Beach County saw it's median paid per square foot for condos drop to $65 in January, down 2.3 percent from December and down 4.6 percent from a year earlier.

Driving much of the demand for condos and other lower-cost homes are absentee buyers, who purchased a record 39.9 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in January. That was up from 38.0 percent in December and 37.4 percent a year earlier. The former high was 39.4 percent in March 2011. Absentee buyers are investors, second-home buyers and others who indicate at the time of sale that their property tax bill will be sent to a different address. (Absentee statistics go back to January 2000).

Absentee buyers paid a median $94,899 for all new and resale houses and condos that they purchased in January, down slightly from $96,000 in December but up 11.6 percent from $85,000 in January 2011.

January buyers who had a foreign mailing addresses in the public record represented 5.6 percent of total Miami-area home sales for the month, and accounted for more than 9 percent of all sales of existing (not new) condos. Of all homes bought with a foreign mailing address, 79 percent were existing condos. (Note: Not all foreign buyers use a foreign mailing address, hence cannot be tracked with public records.)

Nearly 70 percent of the Miami-area's January buyers with a foreign mailing address were from Canada, while the rest were split among more than 30 other nations, including Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, France, Columbia and the United Kingdom.

Many absentee buyers are also cash buyers, who purchased 64.4 percent of the Miami-area homes sold in January. That was down slightly from 65.4 percent the prior month and down from 65.4 percent a year earlier. The peak for cash purchases was 68.6 percent in March 2011. Cash deals are where there was no indication of a purchase loan recorded at the time of sale

January's cash buyers paid a median $95,000, down from $98,000 in December but up from $85,000 a year earlier.

Meanwhile, use of a form of low-down-payment financing that's popular with first-time homebuyers - government-insured FHA loans - rose slightly in January, to 37.9 percent of all home purchase loans. That was up from an FHA share of 37.0 percent of purchase loans the prior month but down from 42.6 percent a year earlier and 46.0 percent two years ago.

See full Miami Home Sale Chart as DQNews.com.

Las Vegas Area January Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 05:35:00 +0000

Las Vegas Region January Home Sales

The number of homes sold in the Las Vegas area last month was the highest for a January in five years thanks to robust sales below $200,000, and especially under $100,000. The median price paid sank to its lowest point since April 1994 as distressed property sales made up two-thirds of all resale activity and investor purchases reached a near-record level, a real estate information service reported.

In January, 4,038 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was down 16.6 percent from December but up 8.5 percent from January 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A sharp drop in sales between December and January is normal. On average, sales have fallen 23.7 percent between those two months since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas region statistics begin.

In January, the number of homes that resold rose 7.0 percent on a year-over-year basis, marking the 13th consecutive month in which resales have posted an annual gain. It was the highest number of resales for a January since 2005. January sales of newly-built homes also rose from a year earlier, by 26.3 percent, and were the highest for that month since 2008, but they remained far below average. New-home sales have risen year-over-year for seven consecutive months.

Total January sales were 15.6 percent higher than the average number of homes sold in that month since 1994, while resale activity (excludes new homes) was 55.5 percent above average for a January.

Continuing a months-long trend, January sales were strongest in the lower price ranges. The number of transactions below $100,000 shot up 26.0 percent compared with a year earlier and represented 44.6 percent of all deals, compared with 38.4 percent of all sales in January 2011. The number of January 2012 sales below $200,000 rose 11.2 percent year-over-year, while the number above $200,000 fell 3.2 percent from a year earlier. January sales above $300,000 fell 9.1 percent compared with a year ago.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in January was $110,000, down 4.3 percent from $115,000 in December and down 7.6 percent from $119,000 in January 2011. The January 2012 median, which was the lowest since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994, was 64.7 percent below the November 2006 peak of $312,000. The median has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 16 consecutive months.

The median’s recent decline to levels not seen since the mid 1990s can be attributed to several factors: home price depreciation; robust sales of low-cost foreclosures; robust sales to investors, who mainly target low-cost properties; historically low new-home sales (new homes tend to sell for more than resale homes); and higher-than-usual condo resales (condos tend to be the least expensive homes).

January's new-home sales represented 9.4 percent of all transactions, compared with a monthly average of 28.0 percent of all sales over the last decade. January’s condo sales represented 17.7 percent of total Las Vegas sales, compared with a 10-year monthly average of 13.9 percent.

An alternative home-price gauge – the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – dipped again in January, to $64, down 1.5 percent from December and down 8.6 percent from a year earlier. January’s figure was the lowest since at least 1994 and was 66.3 percent below the peak $190 paid per square foot in May and June 2006.

In January, cash buyers purchased 53.7 percent of the Las Vegas-area homes that sold. That was up from a cash-buyer share of 50.9 percent of sales in December and down from 54.5 percent a year earlier. The record was 56.7 percent in February 2011. Cash purchases are where there is no sign of a corresponding purchase mortgage in the public record.

Cash buyers in January paid a median $80,000 for a home in the Las Vegas area, down from $81,000 in December and down from $92,250 a year earlier.

Absentee buyers – mainly investors and vacation-home buyers – purchased a near-record 49.1 percent of all homes sold in January. That compares with 47.2 percent in December, 49.2 percent a year earlier and a record 49.9 percent in March 2011. Absentee buyers paid a median $90,000 in January, down from $95,000 in December and down 10.0 percent from $100,000 a year earlier. Absentee buyers are those who indicated at the time of sale that the property tax bill will go to a different address.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made two-thirds of the Las Vegas resale market.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 52.6 percent of the Las Vegas resale market in January. That was up slightly from 52.3 percent in December but down from 54.7 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 13.9 percent of the resale market in January. That compares with an estimated 13.7 percent in December, 14.4 percent a year ago, and 13.6 percent two years ago.

In the wake of a new Nevada law that creates additional requirements for lenders trying to foreclose on properties, the number of notices of default (“NODs”) filed in Clark County plummeted in recent months. In January, lenders filed 1,048 NODs, up 13.8 percent from the 921 filed in December but down 80.9 percent from the 5,497 NODs filed in January 2011. The notice of default is the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

The number of homes lost to foreclosure in the Las Vegas region in January rose from December but fell well below a year earlier. Lenders foreclosed on 1,960 single-family house and condo units in January, up 11.9 percent from December but down 26.3 percent from a year earlier.

Home Sale Chart is posted at DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

January Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:12:00 +0000

Bay Area Housing Market Logs Higher Sales, Lower Prices

February 16, 2012

La Jolla, CA.----Bay Area home sales rose last month to the highest level for the month of January in five years, boosted by lower prices, ultra-low mortgage rates, a modestly improved economy and a record level of investor purchases. The median price paid for a home fell year-over-year for the 16th consecutive month as “distressed” sales rose to the highest level since early last year, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 5,479 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area in January. That was down 26.9 percent from 7,494 in December, and up 10.3 percent from 4,966 in January 2011. The year-over-year sales increase was the seventh in a row, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The December-to-January drop was normal for the season. On average, sales have fallen 28.0 percent between those two months since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. Last month’s sales were 10.5 percent below the average number of homes sold during January. Since 1988, January sales have varied from 3,586 in 2008 to 8,298 in 2005.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month was $326,000. That was down 2.8 percent from a revised $335,500 in December, and down 3.6 percent from $338,000 in January 2011. Last month’s median was the lowest since April 2009, when it was $304,000.
The median’s low point of the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in March 2009. The peak was $665,000 in June/July 2007. Around half of the median’s peak-to-trough drop was the result of a decline in home values, while the other half reflected a shift in the sales mix.

“While it’s clear prices have edged lower in some areas recently, last month’s Bay Area median of just $326,000 is a reflection of how skewed the market has become toward distressed, lower-cost properties. The higher-end sales have slowed in recent months as many struggle to qualify for loans and others just sit tight. This is also the time of year that we caution people not to try to read too much into the statistics. The winter numbers are based on a smaller pool of buyers and they haven’t proved very predictive,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“Meanwhile, we’ll be watching to see how the purchase market might be impacted by the government’s recently announced efforts to help homeowners refinance, or otherwise avoid foreclosure. The federal-state settlement with five major banks reportedly calls for billions to be spent in California to help certain underwater homeowners reduce their principal or do a short sale. The state Attorney General says there are ‘incentives’ to ensure much of that money is spent in hard-hit counties ‘within the first year.’ What’s not clear is the extent to which these efforts will kick in during the first half of 2012, which could alter the course of some who are on the brink of foreclosure right now.”

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – rose to 51.9 percent of the Bay Area resale market. That’s up from 48.5 percent in December and down slightly from 54.5 percent in January 2011.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 28.0 percent of resales in January. That was up from a revised 27.8 percent in December, and down from 35.0 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 15 years is about 9 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 23.9 percent of Bay Area resales last month – the highest for the current housing cycle. That was up from 20.7 percent in December and up from 19.5 percent a year earlier.

Last month 27.4 percent of Bay Area sales were for $500,000 or more, down from a revised 29.6 percent in December, and down from 29.9 percent in January 2011. The low for the current cycle was January 2009, when just 22.7 percent of sales crossed the $500,000 threshold. Over the past 10 years, a monthly average of 47.6 percent of homes sold for $500,000-plus.

The number of homes sold for $500,000 or more last month fell 3.7 percent from January 2011, while sales under $500,000 rose 12.1 percent year-over-year.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 24.3 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in January, up from a revised 22.4 percent in December and down from 25.0 percent a year earlier.

One indicator of mortgage availability that had seen improvement last year dropped again in January, when 11.2 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages, down from a revised 11.6 percent in December, and down from 11.3 percent in January 2011. Over the last 10 years, ARMs have accounted for a monthly average of 44.0 percent of purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 24.8 percent of last month’s purchase lending, down from a revised 26.5 percent in December, and down from 26.9 percent a year earlier. Jumbo usage dropped to 17.1 percent in January 2009. Before the credit crunch struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Bay Area purchase loan market.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased a record 25.4 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, up from 23.8 percent in December and 22.8 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers paid a median $222,000 in January, down from $235,000 in December and $230,000 a year earlier.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 30.0 percent of January sales, up from 27.2 percent in December, and up from 28.7 percent a year earlier. The record was 30.5 percent last February, while the monthly average going back to 1988 is 12.2 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $220,000 in January, down from $225,000 in December and up slightly from $217,500 a year earlier.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,233, down from $1,336 in December, and down from $1,412 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was the lowest in DataQuick’s records back to 1988, and was 55.2 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 66.9 percent below the current cycle's July 2007 peak.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but below peak levels reached over the last three years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

See DQNews.com for the county chart.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

January Southland Home Sales Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:04:00 +0000

Southland Home Sales Flat, Prices Edge Down

Februry 15, 2012

La Jolla, CA---The Southland housing market started 2012 with slightly higher sales and slightly lower prices despite record-low mortgage interest rates. Home sales skewed toward the lower price ranges, which is normal for January, as many traditional buyers retreated and investors snapped up homes at a record level, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 14,523 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 24.5 percent from 19,247 in December, and up 0.4 percent from 14,458 in January 2011, according to DataQuick of San Diego.

Sales have increased year-over-year for five of the last six months. The sharp sales decline from December is normal for the season. Last month’s sales count was 17.8 percent below the 17,671 average for all the months of January since 1988.

A total of 669 newly built homes sold in January, the lowest number for any month since DataQuick started keeping track in 1988.

“January numbers have never been very good at providing an indication of what upcoming activity will be like. For that we need to wait until March. What we can determine is that the mortgage market remains dysfunctional. It will be interesting to see how a potential surge of refinance activity plays into the purchase market once the administration’s new guidelines are implemented,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southland home last month was $260,000, down 3.7 percent from $270,000 for both December and January last year. The median was the lowest since $249,000 in May 2009. The median’s low point for the current real estate cycle was $247,000 in April 2009, while the high point was $505,000 in mid 2007. The peak-to-trough drop was due to a decline in home values as well as a shift in sales toward lower-cost homes, especially inland foreclosures.

Distressed sales made up more than half of January’s resale market.

Foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – made up 32.6 percent of resales last month, up from a revised 32.4 percent in December and down from 36.8 percent a year earlier.

Foreclosure resales hit a high of 56.7 percent in February 2009 and a low of 32.8 percent last June.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 21.3 percent of Southland resales last month. That was a high for the current real estate cycle and compares with 19.6 percent in both December and January 2011.

Meanwhile, credit conditions remained tight.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) accounted for 6.0 percent of last month’s Southland home purchase loans, down from 6.4 percent in December and 7.0 percent a year ago. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 35 percent of purchase loans were ARMs.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 13.6 percent of last month’s purchase lending, down from 15.2 percent in both December and a year earlier. In the months leading up to the credit crisis that struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for 40 percent of the market.
Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought a record 26.8 percent of the Southland homes sold in January, paying a median $193,500. The Inland Empire saw absentee purchases rise to a record 33.6 percent of all sales. Since 2000, the Southland’s absentee buyers purchased a monthly average of 16.9 percent of all homes sold.

Cash purchasers accounted for a near-record 31.4 percent of January home sales, paying a median $199,000. That was up from 29.8 percent in December, and up from 30.4 percent a year earlier. The 10-year monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is 15.1 percent. Cash purchases are where there was no indication in the public record that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 31.2 percent of all purchase mortgages in January. Last month’s FHA level was up from 30.7 percent in December but down from 33.2 percent in January 2011. Two years ago FHA loans made up 35.0 percent of the purchase loan market, while three years ago it was 38.9 percent.

Last month 16.0 percent of all sales were for $500,000 or more, down from a revised 18.4 percent in December and down from 18.3 percent a year earlier. The low point for $500,000-plus sales was in January 2009, when only 13.8 percent of sales were above that threshold. Over the past decade, a monthly average of 27.2 percent of homes sold for $500,000 or more.

Viewed differently, Southland zip codes in the top one-third of the housing market, based on historical prices, accounted for 35.1 percent of total sales last month. That was down from 36.4 percent in December but up from 33.6 percent a year earlier. Over the last 10 years, those higher-end areas contributed a monthly average of 36.7 percent of regional sales. Their contribution to overall sales hit a low of 26.2 percent in January 2009.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $983 last month, the lowest since it was also $983 in May 1999. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical monthly mortgage payment is the lowest in DataQuick’s records, which go back to 1988.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

See DQNews.com for the county chart.

Source: DQNews.com Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157