CAR Report and Alaska Update

According to the California Association of Realtors (CAR) the median price of a home in the State increased 8 percent in May and sales decreased by 21.1 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

“This is the first time since November 2001 that the median price did not increase by double digits, reflecting the return to the more balanced market that we have anticipated,” said CAR President Vince Malta.

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during May 2006 was $564,430, an 8 percent increase over the revised $522,530 median for May 2005, C.A.R. reported. The May 2006 median price increased 0.5 percent compared with April’s revised $561,750 median price.

Other items of interest reported by CAR include:

• Inventory of single family detached homes for sale was 5.9 months in May compared to 2.7 months a year ago.
  
• Mortgage interest rates for a 30-year fixed averaged 6.6 percent during May compared to 5.72 percent in May 2005.
  
• The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home was 44 days in May 2006, compared with 27 days for the same period a year ago.
  

Looking at Sacramento, CAR reported a median sales price of $382,570 for the month of May which is an increase of 2.2 percent from April and a increase of .7 percent from a year ago. Sales volume was up 10.1 percent from April but down 22.4 percent from May 2005.

The full story can be found on the CAR website at: May 06 sales/price report.

Alaska Update: We celebrated the fourth with family and friends here in Anchorage and even got some errands done. Today we have to accomplish a great deal so we can be ready to head back to Homer tomorrow for the wedding and be ready to fly home when we get back to Anchorage on Sunday.