More California Numbers

The California Association of REALTORS® just reported on the sales activity for the State during March. They divide the state into 20 geographic markets and their report stated, “The median price was up, ranging from a high of 23.6 in the High Desert to a low of 1.6 percent in northern Santa Barbara County.” They reported the Sacramento region median price was down .9 percent from February to $376,010 which is 5.2 percent higher than March 2005. As I wrote yesterday they also reported volume was up from February but down from last year’s record pace. In Sacramento they reported an 5.2. percent increase in sales from February and a drop of 27.2 percent from last year. Only Orange County had a larger drop in volume from last year.

According to CAR economist, Robert Kleinhenz, "It's not like the housing market has collapsed. It just down-shifted from an extraordinary level of sales to a more ordinary level of sales." My opinion is that it remains too early to tell how this year will turn out. I remain convinced that the late arrival of spring has dampened the market and now that we finally have some nice weather the question is, will the buyers come out? I remain optimistic but believe it will the later part of May before we have a better feel for how our market is going to perform.

Here are a few highlights from the CAR report for March:

• CAR's Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes in March 2006 was 4.8 months, compared with 2.2 months for the same period a year ago.
• Thirty-year fixed mortgage interest rates averaged 6.32 percent during March 2006, compared with 5.93 percent in March 2005, according to Freddie Mac. Adjustable mortgage interest rates averaged 5.42 percent in March 2006 compared with 4.23 percent in March 2005.
• The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home was 44 days in March 2006, compared with 30 days for the same period a year ago.
• Statewide, the 10 cities and communities with the highest median home prices in California during March 2006 were: Laguna Beach, $1,827,000; Burlingame, $1,720,000; Beverly Hills, $1,665,000; Los Altos, $1,626,000; Manhattan Beach, $1,625,000; Newport Beach, $1,520,000; Coronado, $1,463,750; Saratoga, $1,391,000; Los Gatos, $1,300,000; Calabasas, $1,259,500.
• Statewide, the 10 cities and communities with the greatest median home price increases in March 2006 compared with the same period a year ago were: Reedley, 58.9 percent; Atwater, 52 percent; Twentynine Palms, 48.8 percent; Barstow, 45.7 percent; Beaumont, 45.6 percent; Taft, 44 percent; California City, 43.1 percent; Burlingame, 40.4 percent; Porterville, 40.3 percent; Highland, 36.8 percent.
• In a separate report covering more localized statistics generated by CAR and DataQuick, 89.8% percent or 369 of 411 cities and communities showed an increase in their respective median home prices from a year ago. DataQuick statistics are based on county records data rather than MLS information. This report can be seen at http://www.car.org/index.php?id=MzYwNTQ=

The entire CAR report can be found on their web page at March 06 sales/price report.