March Las Vegas Home Sales Press Release

Las Vegas Region March Home Sales

Las Vegas-area home sales dropped to a six-year low for a March as investor purchases fell and buyers struggled with a thin inventory of homes for sale, affordability constraints and credit hurdles. The median price paid for a home rose to the highest level in more than five years, but the year-over-year increase was the lowest in 20 months, a real estate information service reported.

In March, 3,890 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 20.4 percent from the month before and down 14.2 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

On average, sales between February and March have risen 27.2 percent since 1994, when DataQuick's complete Las Vegas-area statistics begin. Sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for six consecutive months.

March home sales were the lowest for that month since March 2008, when 3,266 homes sold, and they were 19.9 percent below the average number sold during all months of March since 1994. However, resales of houses and condos combined were 2.0 percent above average for the month of March, while sales of newly built homes were 66.1 percent below the March average. Condo resales in March were 9.2 percent higher than the March average.

In recent months home sales have been constrained by a combination of factors. Potential buyers face significantly higher prices and mortgage rates compared with this time last year, as well as credit challenges and a tight supply of homes for sale, especially in the lower price ranges. Some owners still can’t afford to sell their homes because they owe more than they are worth. Also, lenders aren’t foreclosing on as many properties, further limiting the supply of homes for sale.

In March, sales of homes priced below $100,000 dropped 44.9 percent compared with a year earlier, while sub-$200,000 transactions fell 29.7 percent year-over-year. The number of homes that sold for $200,000 or more rose 22.1 percent year-over-year. March sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – increased 23.2 percent from a year earlier, while the number selling for $500,000 or more rose 12.5 percent ($500,000-plus sales represented about 4 percent of March sales).

Las Vegas region buyers paid a median $185,000 for all new and resale houses and condos purchased in March, up 2.8 percent from $180,000 in February and up 17.8 percent from $157,000 a year earlier. Last month’s median was the highest since November 2008, when it was $190,000.

The median sale price’s year-over-year gains over the past 24 consecutive months have ranged from 1.7 percent to 35.3 percent. Last month’s 17.8 percent increase was the lowest since the median increased 12.1 percent year-over-year in July 2012. The median’s annual increases have been double-digit for the past 21 months.

March’s median was 40.7 percent below the region’s peak $312,000 median in November 2006.

The run-up in home prices over the last year varies somewhat depending on price segment. In March, the lowest-cost third of the region’s housing stock saw a 28.8 percent year-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses. The annual increase was 19.4 percent for the market’s middle third and 17.8 percent for the top, most-expensive third.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. DataQuick was acquired last month by Irvine-based property information company CoreLogic.

Investors' influence on the Las Vegas housing market has declined over the past year, and that was certainly the case in March. Absentee buyers, which include investors and some vacation-home buyers, purchased 40.6 percent of the homes sold in March, down from 45.9 percent the month before and down from 48.7 percent a year earlier. The monthly average for the absentee buyer share since January 2000 is 35.4 percent.

Buyers based outside of Nevada purchased 24.3 percent of all homes sold in the Las Vegas region in March, compared with 32.1 percent a year earlier. California-based buyers accounted for 10.8 percent of March sales, while Arizona-based buyers bought 4.1 percent and buyers from 37 other states collectively purchased 7.9 percent. Buyers with a foreign mailing address accounted for about 1.5 percent of all sales. (Note: Some foreign buyers use a U.S. mailing address in public records, hence not all sales to foreign buyers can be tracked this way.)

In March, 83 Las Vegas-area buyers purchased at least two homes on the open market (excludes public foreclosure auctions on the courthouse steps). That was down from 153 multi-home buyers during March 2013, based on an analysis of buyer names in the public record. (Note: In some cases individuals and partnerships buy under different names). In March this year, buyers of two or more homes purchased a total of 393 homes in the Las Vegas area, which amounts to about 10 percent of all homes sold and represents a roughly 40 percent decline from the number of properties that multi-home buyers purchased in March last year. There were 12 buyers in March 2014 that each purchased five or more homes, but only five bought 10 or more. Combined, the five buyers who purchased 10 or more homes in March 2014 acquired 186 properties, or about 47 percent of all homes bought by multi-home buyers.

To view additional Las Vegas region March highlights, visit DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157


Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

1Q2014 California Foreclosures Press Release

California Foreclosure Starts Hover Near 8-Year Low

April 22, 2014

La Jolla, CA.--For the third consecutive quarter California foreclosure starts remained little changed at a level last seen in early 2006, the result of steady economic growth and higher home values. Foreclosure processors are still mostly plowing through a pool of toxic subprime mortgages originated back in mid-to-late 2006, a real estate information service reported.

Lenders and their servicers recorded 19,215 Notices of Default (NoDs) on California house and condo owners during this year's first quarter, which runs January through March. That was up 6.0 percent from 18,120 NoDs in the prior quarter, which had the lowest NoD tally since fourth-quarter 2005, and was up 3.5 percent from 18,568 NoDs in first-quarter last year, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The trough for DataQuick's NoD statistics, which begin in 1992, was 12,417 in third-quarter 2004, while the peak was 135,431 in first-quarter 2009. Each NoD represents a "foreclosure start" because the filing of the Notice of Default begins the formal foreclosure process.

"It may well be that the foreclosure starts in recent quarters don't reflect the ebb and flow of financial distress as much as they reflect a steady state of workload capacity on the part of the servicers. They may well be just working their way through a backlog, stacks of paper piled high on desks," said John Karevoll, DataQuick analyst.

The past three quarters, along with the first quarter of 2013, have seen the lowest NoD totals since late 2005 and early 2006.

Although this year's first quarter was the first to log a year-over-year increase in default filings since fourth quarter 2009, that gain can be attributed to an anomaly early in first-quarter 2013: There was a short-lived plunge in NoD filings in January and February last year as new state laws - known as the "Homeowner Bill of Rights" - took effect, causing lenders and services to pause and adjust. On a year-over-year basis, NoD filings have only increased in January this year, rising 63.9 percent, while February and March NoD levels fell 2.8 percent and 22.5 percent, respectively, from a year earlier. Still, the January gain was enough to put all of first-quarter 2014 ahead of first-quarter last year.

Absent an economic shock, the number of homeowners defaulting on their mortgage should continue to trend lower thanks to the economic rebound and higher home prices. For a variety of reasons, however, NoD filings could edge higher month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter. For example, some larger lenders and servicers could quicken the pace at which they're processing existing backlogs of distressed properties. And there could be a spike in "re-defaults" among borrowers who avoided foreclosure with a loan modification.

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 more than four years, indicating that weak underwriting standards peaked then.

On primary mortgages, California homeowners were a median 9.8 months behind on their payments when the lender filed the Notice of Default. The borrowers owed a median $22,538 on a median $301,732 mortgage.

On home equity loans and lines of credit in default, borrowers owed a median $5,924 on a median $69,603 credit line. The amount of the credit line that was actually in use cannot be determined from public records.

The most active "beneficiaries" in the formal foreclosure process last quarter were Wells Fargo (2,834), Bank of America (1,637) and Nationstar (1,282).

The trustees who pursued the highest number of defaults last quarter were Quality Loan Service Corp (for Wells Fargo and others), MTC Financial (Bank of America, Greentree, JP Morgan Chase) and Western Progressive (OCWEN and Deutsche Bank).

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. DataQuick was acquired last month by Irvine-based property information company CoreLogic.

Although 19,215 default notices were filed last quarter, they involved 18,613 homes because some borrowers were in default on multiple loans (e.g. a primary mortgage and a line of credit).

Among the state's larger counties, loans were least likely to go into default last quarter in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties. The probability was highest in Tulare, Madera and Fresno counties.

The number of Trustees Deeds recorded (TDs), which indicates the actual loss of a home to the formal foreclosure process, totaled 7,799 last quarter. That was the lowest for any quarter since fourth-quarter 2006, when 6,078 homes were foreclosed on. Last quarter's foreclosures fell 4.9 percent from 8,205 in fourth-quarter 2013 and fell 42.6 percent from first-quarter last year.

The all-time peak was 79,511 foreclosures in third-quarter 2008. The state's all-time low was 637 in second-quarter 2005, according to DataQuick, whose TD statistics go back to 1988.

On average, homes foreclosed on last quarter took 9.5 months to wind their way through the formal foreclosure process, beginning with an NoD. That's up from an average of 9.0 months the prior quarter and up from 8.1 months a year earlier.

At formal foreclosure auctions held statewide last quarter, an estimated 39.3 percent of the foreclosed properties were bought by investors or others that don't appear to be lender or government entities. That was down slightly from an estimated 39.9 percent the previous quarter and down from 47.1 percent a year earlier, DataQuick reported.

Foreclosure resales - properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - accounted for 7.7 percent of all California resale activity last quarter. That was up from a revised 6.8 percent the prior quarter and down from 17.1 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 57.8 percent in first-quarter 2009. Among the state's larger counties last quarter, foreclosure resales varied from 2.1 percent in San Mateo County to 17.5 percent in Madera County.

The role of short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - is also fading. Last quarter short sales made up an estimated 8.7 percent of the state's resale market, down from an estimated 10.6 percent the prior quarter and 21.0 percent a year earlier.

For a county-by-county list of Default and Foreclosure counts, please visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

March California Home Sale Press Release

California March Home Sales

April 16, 2014

An estimated 32,923 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide in March. That was up 28.2 percent from 25,680 in February, and down 12.8 percent from 37,764 sales in March 2013, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last month’s sales were the lowest for a March since 2008, when 24,565 homes sold – a record low for the month of March. California’s high for March sales was 68,848 in 2005. Last month's sales were 23.9 percent below the average of 43,251 sales for all months of March since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin. California sales haven’t been above average for any particular month in more than eight years.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $376,000, up 5.9 percent from $355,000 in February and up 20.1 percent from $313,000 in March 2013. Last month’s median sale price was the highest since it was $383,000 in January 2008. This March was the 25th consecutive month in which the state's median rose on a year-over-year basis, and it was the 16th straight month with a gain exceeding 20 percent.

In March/April/May 2007 California’s median sale price peaked at $484,000. The post-peak trough was $221,000 in April 2009.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 7.4 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from a revised 8.0 percent in February and down from 15.0 percent a year earlier. California’s foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent in February 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 7.4 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was down from an estimated 9.3 percent the month before and 18.7 percent a year earlier.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that California buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,496, up from $1,405 the month before and up from $1,134 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month's payment was 35.9 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 48.1 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006. It was 60.7 percent above the January 2012 bottom 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. DataQuick was acquired last month by Irvine-based property information company CoreLogic.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and peak levels reached in the last five years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, while down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright DataQuick. All rights reserved.

Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

Bay Area Median Sale Price Highest Since 2007; Slowest March Sales in 6 Years

April 16, 2014

La Jolla, CA.----Home prices in the Bay Area continued to increase at a brisk pace last month, the result of a strong local economy and a tight supply of homes on the market. The number of homes sold was the lowest for any March since 2008, a real estate information service reported.

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area rose last month to $579,000, the highest since the median was $587,500 in December 2007. Last month’s median increased 7.2 percent from $540,000 in February, and rose 23.2 percent from a revised $470,000 in March last year. On a year-over-year basis, the median has increased the last 24 months, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The median peaked at $665,000 in June and July 2007, then dropped to as low as $290,000 in March 2009. That means roughly three-fourths of the median's post-financial-crisis decline has been regained.

While some of last month’s year-over-year jump in median can be attributed to a shift toward more mid- to high-end sales, most of the median's increase can be attributed to rising home values.

“The only part of today’s Bay Area housing market that is still somewhat off kilter is mortgage financing, but even there things are trending towards long-term norms. The rest of the housing market is characterized by good old supply and demand meeting each other at various price levels,” said John Karevoll, DataQuick analyst.

A total of 6,308 new and resale houses and condos sold in March, up 27.1 percent from 4,963 for the month before and down 12.9 percent from 7,243 in March last year. Sales always increase from February to March. Last month’s Bay Area sales were the lowest for a March since 2008, when 4,898 homes sold, and were 27.2 percent below the 8,667 average for all months of March since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

Bay Area sales haven’t been above average for any particular month in more than eight years. The most active March was in 2004, when 12,645 homes sold, while the least active was in 2008, when 4,898 sold.

A variety of key market indicators are pointing toward normalcy.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), an important indicator of mortgage availability, are incrementally regaining their foothold in the market. ARMs accounted for 25.9 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans in March, up from a revised 23.3 percent in February, and almost double the 13.1 percent for March last year. It was the highest since ARMs were 26.0 percent of the purchase loan market in June 2008. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 47.1 percent of all Bay Area purchase loans.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 52.5 percent of last month’s purchase lending, the highest since it was 58.6 percent in August 2007, when the credit crunch struck. Last month’s 52.5 was up from a revised 48.9 percent in February, and up from 43.2 percent a year ago. Jumbo usage dropped to as low as 17.1 percent in January 2009.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 9.0 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in March, down from 10.2 percent in February and 11.5 percent 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. DataQuick was acquired last month by Irvine-based property information company CoreLogic. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

The number of Bay Area homes that sold for less than $500,000 in March dropped 32.9 percent year-over-year, while the number that sold for more increased 5.2 percent.

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up about 10 percent of the resale market. That was down from about 12 percent in February and down from about 25 percent a year ago.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 4.5 percent of resales in March, down from a revised 5.0 percent the month before, and down from 10.2 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 9.9 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 5 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 6.9 percent in February and down from 15.0 percent a year earlier.

Bay Area home buyers put $1.90 billion of their own money on the table last month in the form of a down payment or as an outright cash purchase. That number hit an all-time high of $2.64 billion last May. They borrowed $2.47 billion last month in mortgage money from lenders.

The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 14.8 percent of the purchase loan market, Bank of America with 4.1 percent and Stearns Lending with 3.7 percent, DataQuick reported.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 20.7 percent of all Bay Area homes. That was down from February’s revised 23.8 percent and down from 27.0 percent for March a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $445,000 last month, up 30.9 percent from a year earlier.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no sign of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 25.0 percent of sales in March, down from a revised 28.2 percent in February and down from 31.0 percent a year earlier. The monthly average going back to 1988 is 13.5 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $445,000 in March, up 30.9 percent from a year earlier.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $2,303. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 20.0 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 40.9 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007. It was 81.2 percent above the February 2012 bottom of the current cycle.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and far below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the county-by-county chart, please visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

March Southland Home Sale Press Release

Southland Home Sales Stuck at 6-year Low; Median Price Rises to 6-Year High

April 15, 2014

La Jolla, CA---Southern California home sales quickened last month compared with February, as they normally do, but remained far below average and at the lowest level for a March in six years. The median sale price rose to a more-than-six-year high, driven up by demand that continues to exceed supply in many areas, as well as a shift toward a greater share of sales in middle and high-end markets, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 17,638 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 25.7 percent from 14,027 sales in February, and down 14.3 percent from 20,581 sales in March last year, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

For seasonal reasons sales shoot up between February and March, with that gain averaging 36.3 percent since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. Southland sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for six consecutive months, and last month was the second in a row in which sales were at the lowest level for that particular month in six years.

Sales during the month of March have ranged from a low of 12,808 in 2008 to a high of 37,030 in 2004. Last month’s sales were 26.9 percent below the average number of sales – 24,115 – for March since 1988. Sales haven’t been above average for any month in more than seven years.

“Southland home buying got off to a very slow start this year, with last month’s sales coming in at the second-lowest level for a March in nearly two decades. We see multiple reasons for this: The inventory of homes for sale remains thin in many markets. Investor purchases have fallen. The jump in home prices and mortgage rates over the past year has priced some people out of the market, while other would-be buyers struggle with credit hurdles. Also, some potential move-up buyers are holding back while they weigh whether to abandon a phenomenally low interest rate on their current mortgage in order to buy a different home,” said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the six-county region last month was $400,000, up 4.4 percent from $383,000 in February and up 15.8 percent from $345,500 in March 2013. Last month’s median was the highest since it was $408,000 in February 2008.

The median has risen on a year-over-year basis for 24 consecutive months. Those gains have been double-digit – between 10.8 percent and 28.3 percent – over the past 20 months. The 15.8 percent year-over gain in the median last month marked the lowest increase for any month since September 2012, when the $315,000 median rose 12.5 percent from a year earlier.

The March median sale price stood 20.8 percent below the peak $505,000 median in spring/summer 2007.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. DataQuick was acquired last month by Irvine-based property information company CoreLogic.

Home prices continue to rise at different rates depending on price segment. In March, the lowest-cost third of the region's housing stock saw a 21.0 percent year-over-year increase in the median price paid per square foot for resale houses. The annual gain was 15.9 percent for the middle third of the market and 14.3 percent for the top, most-expensive third.

Last month the number of homes that sold for $500,000 or more increased 2.9 percent from one year earlier, while $800,000-plus sales rose 5.4 percent. Sales below $500,000 fell 26.4 percent year-over year, while sales below $200,000 plunged 45.7 percent.

In March, 35.1 percent of all Southland home sales were for $500,000 or more, up from 33.5 percent the month before and up from 27.8 percent a year earlier.

The impact of distressed properties continued to wane.

Foreclosure resales – homes foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 6.4 percent of the Southland resale market in March. That was down from a revised 6.7 percent the prior month and down from 13.8 percent a year earlier. In recent months the foreclosure resale rate has been the lowest since early 2007. In the current cycle, foreclosure resales 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 7.7 percent of Southland resales last month. That was down from a revised 9.3 percent the prior month and down from 18.7 percent a year earlier.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 27.4 percent of the homes sold last month, down from 28.9 percent in February and down from 31.2 percent a year earlier. The monthly average since 2000, when the absentee data begin, is 18.7 percent. The number of homes purchased by absentee buyers in March fell nearly 30 percent from a year earlier and was at its lowest level for a March since 2010. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $337,500, up 22.7 percent year-over-year.

In March 5.3 percent of all Southland homes sold on the open market were flipped, meaning they had previously sold in the prior six months. That’s down from a flipping rate of 6.1 the prior month and it’s down from 6.3 percent a year earlier. (The figures exclude homes resold after being purchased at public foreclosure auctions on the courthouse steps).

Buyers paying cash last month accounted for 29.1 percent of Southland home sales, down from 30.9 percent the month before and down from 35.1 percent in March last year. Since 1988 the monthly average for cash buyers is 16.5 percent of all sales. Cash buyers paid a median $365,000 last month, up 28.1 percent from a year earlier.

In March, Southern California home buyers forked over a total of $4.04 billion of their own money in the form of down payments or cash purchases. That was up from a revised $3.36 billion in February and down from $4.46 billion a year ago. The out-of-pocket total peaked last May at $5.41 billion.

Credit conditions appear to have eased in recent months, although they remain tight in an historical context.

Last month 13.3 percent of Southland home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) – nearly double the ARM level of a year earlier. Last month's figure was up from 12.9 percent in February and up from 7.4 percent in March 2013. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 31 percent of Southland purchase loans have been ARMs.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 29.5 percent of last month’s Southland purchase lending. That was the highest level for any month since the credit crunch struck in August 2007. Last month’s figure was up from 27.2 percent the prior month and up from 23.8 percent a year earlier. Prior to the August 2007 credit crunch jumbos accounted for around 40 percent of the home loan market.

All lenders combined provided a total of $4.96 billion in mortgage money to Southern California home buyers in March, up from a revised $3.91 billion in February and down from $5.29 billion in March last year.

The most active lenders to Southern California home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 7.1 percent of the total home purchase loan market, Bank of America with 3.0 percent and IMortgage with 2.4 percent.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 18.4 percent of all purchase mortgages last month. That was down from 18.9 percent the month before and down from 22.5 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA share has been the lowest since early 2008, mainly because of tighter FHA qualifying standards and the difficulties first-time buyers have competing with investors and cash buyers.

The typical monthly mortgage payment Southland buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,591, up from $1,516 the month before and up from $1,252 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 33.9 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 45.9 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and far below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the county-by-county home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

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

Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

February Phoenix Region Home Sale Press Release

Phoenix Region February Home Sales

The Phoenix area posted the smallest year-over-year gain in its median sale price in two years during February as a rise in inventory and other factors helped tame price appreciation. The sales volume was the lowest for a February in five years, a real estate information service reported.

Buyers paid a median $189,000 for all new and resale houses and condos sold during February in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. That was the same as in January and up 11.7 percent from a year earlier. The year-over-year increase in the February median was the lowest since the median sale price rose 7.5 percent, to $129,000, in February 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

The Phoenix-area’s median sale price has risen on a year-over-year basis for 28 consecutive months and those gains have been double-digit – as high as 32.2 percent – for the last 24 months. Despite those gains, the February median remained 28.1 percent below the region’s all-time peak median of $264,100 in June 2006.

Home price increases have moderated in Phoenix and in some other Western markets as the number of homes listed for sale has increased, and as higher prices and mortgage interest rates have priced out some potential buyers. In addition, credit conditions remain relatively tight and demand from investors has waned. Early last year the combination of ultra-low mortgage rates, tight inventory and high investor demand helped drive steep price gains.

In February, a total of 6,641 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the two-county Phoenix region, up 9.4 percent from the month before and down 16.3 percent from a year earlier. The month-to-month increase in sales matches the average change in sales volume between January and February since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Phoenix region statistics begin. Sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for five months in a row.

This February’s sales were 16.0 percent below average for the month of February. Resales of houses and condos combined were 15.9 percent below the historical average for February, while new-home sales were 58.9 percent below average.

During January and February this year a total of 12,712 homes sold in the Phoenix region, down 16.3 percent from the same two-month period in 2013. Condo resales during the first two months of this year fell 9.6 percent year-over-year, while single-family house resales fell 17.0 percent and sales of all newly built homes fell 20.0 percent.

In February, activity continued to fall sharply in the Phoenix-area’s lowest price ranges, while the middle and upper-price categories posted smaller losses or at least modest gains in sales volume compared with a year earlier. The number of new and resale homes bought in February for less than $100,000 dropped 39.1 percent from a year earlier, while sub-$200,000 sales fell 25.1 percent. Deals between $200,000 and $600,000 – a typical move-up range – dipped 0.4 percent year-over-year, while the number of homes selling for $500,000 or more rose 3.1 percent from the same month last year.

In the Phoenix region’s multi-million-dollar luxury home market, 38 homes sold for $2 million or more during the first two months of this year, up 46.2 percent from the same period last year. The figures are based on public property records, where either a price or loan amount was available.

The impact of investors, and especially large investors, on the Phoenix housing market has eased in recent months, though the percentage of homes sold to all absentee buyers edged slightly higher in February. (To some extent this is because many traditional buyers drop out of the housing market during the holidays, which translates into a higher concentration of investors closing deals in January and February). Absentee buyers, which would include investors and some vacation-home buyers, bought 31.2 percent of the homes sold in February, up a tad from 31.0 percent the month before and down from 35.0 percent a year earlier. The monthly average for the absentee buyer share since January 2000 is 32.0 percent.

In February, 116 Phoenix-area buyers purchased at least two homes on the open market (excludes public foreclosure auctions on the courthouse steps). That was down from 186 multi-home buyers during February 2013, based on an analysis of buyer names in the public record. In February this year, buyers of two or more homes purchased 321 properties in the Phoenix area, which amounts to about 4.8 percent of all homes sold and represents a roughly 57 percent decline from the number of properties that multi-home buyers purchased in February last year. There were 10 buyers in February 2014 that each purchased five or more homes, and collectively they acquired 82 properties, or about 26 percent of all homes bought by multi-home buyers.

Buyers based outside of Arizona purchased 14.5 percent of all homes sold in the Phoenix region in February, down from 17.0 percent a year earlier. California-based buyers accounted for 3.0 percent of all Phoenix-area homes purchased this February, while buyers based in 46 other states collectively bought 11.1 percent. Buyers with a foreign mailing address accounted for about 0.4% percent of all sales this February. (Note: Some foreign buyers use a U.S. mailing address in public records, hence not all sales to foreign buyers can be tracked this way.)

To view other Phoenix area February highlights, visit DQNews.com.

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

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