Jr.'s Blog

La Jolla,CA----Southern California's housing market sent out more mixed signals last month: Sales fell to a decade low while prices inched up to a new record, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 17,680 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in February. That was down 2.5 percent from 18,128 in January, and down 19.8 percent from 22,046 in February last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last month's sales were the lowest for any February since 1997, when 15,772 homes sold. Since 1988 February sales have averaged 18,631. A decline in transactions from January to February is not unusual.

The median price paid for a Southern California home was a record $495,000 last month, up 2.1 percent from $485,000 in January and up 5.3 percent from $470,000 in February last year. The previous record was $490,000, reached in both June and December of last year.

Last month's 5.3 percent annual rise in the median was the highest gain since July 2006, when the $487,000 median rose 5.9 percent.

"February's record Southland median is another indication the housing market, although certainly weaker than last year, is hardly down for the count, as some would suggest," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

"That said, we don't consider February trends strong indicators of what's to come. And it's worth noting that the record Southland median was reached with the help of higher annual price growth in Los Angeles County - the only individual county that saw a record median. In fact, L.A. and San Bernardino counties were the only ones to log year-over-year gains in their medians last month."

DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, 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 to paying was $2,303 last month, up from $2,263 the previous month and up from $2,204 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 8.3 percent above typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 4.9 percent below the current cycle's peak last June.

Indicators of market distress are still moderate. Financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is declining. Foreclosure activity is rising but is still in the normal range. Down payment sizes are stable and flipping rates and non-owner occupied buying activity is down, DataQuick reported.

All Homes	No Sold Feb-06	No Sold Feb-07	Pct. Chg	Median Feb-06	Median Feb-07	Pct. Chg
Los Angeles	7,089	6,300	-11.1%	$490,000	$528,000	7.8%
Orange	2,928	2,449	-16.4%	$622,250	$620,000	-0.4%
Riverside	4,796	3,057	-36.3%	$410,000	$410,000	0.0%
San Bernardino	3,316	2,274	-31.4%	$361,000	$368,750	2.1%
San Diego	3,035	2,863	-5.7%	$510,000	$480,000	-5.9%
Ventura	882	737	-16.4%	$605,000	$584,000	-3.5%
SoCal	22,046	17,680	-19.8%	$470,000	$495,000	5.3%

Source: DQNews.com