August Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

Bay Area Home Sales Slow in August; Prices Increases Ease Back

September 11, 2014

Irvine, CA.----The number of Bay Area homes that sold last month declined again, as potential buyers continued to struggle with constrained supply, tricky mortgage availability and affordability issues. The median price paid for a Bay Area home dropped somewhat, as it usually does from July to August, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 7,578 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was down 10.6 percent from 8,474 in July and down 12.0 percent from 8,616 in August last year, according to CoreLogic DataQuick data.

August sales have varied from 6,688 in August 1992 to 13,940 in August 2004. The average since 1988, when CoreLogic DataQuick’s statistics begin, is 9,526.

“Among the professional number crunchers, there’s been talk lately of a ‘new normal’ and maybe even the need to re-benchmark key statistical indicators like sales and price levels. The fact is that the housing market is still slowly moving back toward long-term norms that were thrown out of whack back during the Great Recession. The most congestion in the various pipelines that comprise the housing market today is caused by abnormalities in the mortgage market,” said John Karevoll, an analyst with Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick.

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area was $607,000 in August. That was down 1.6 percent from $617,000 in July, and up 12.4 percent from $540,000 in August a year ago. A seasonal late-summer decline in median price is normal in the Bay Area. The Bay Area’s median sale price peaked at $665,000 in June and July 2007, then dropped to a low of $290,000 in March 2009.

While bouncing around somewhat from month to month, a variety of market indicators are trending incrementally toward long-term norms.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 58.2 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from a revised 57.3 percent in July, and up from 47.9 percent a year ago. Jumbo usage dropped to as low as 17.1 percent in January 2009.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), an important indicator of mortgage availability, accounted for 24.5 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans in August, down from a revised 25.4 percent in July, and up from 19.4 percent in August last year. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 46.6 percent of all Bay Area purchase loans.

Last month foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 2.9 percent of resales, up from 2.7 percent the month before, and down from 4.3 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales in the Bay Area peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009, while the monthly average over the past 17 years is 9.8 percent, CoreLogic DataQuick reported.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 3.8 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 4.0 percent in July and down from 7.6 percent a year earlier.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 18.4 percent of all Bay Area homes. That was down from a revised 18.9 percent the prior month, and down from 20.3 percent 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 21.8 percent of sales in August, up slightly from a revised 20.0 percent the month before and down from 23.7 percent a year earlier.

Bay Area home buyers committed $2.53 billion of their own money in the form of a down payment or as an outright cash purchase last month, while they borrowed $3.64 billion in mortgage money from lenders.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $2,352. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 19.2 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 40.3 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007. It was 82.9 percent above the February 2012 bottom of the current cycle.

Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

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.

August Southland Home Sale Press Release

Southland Home Sales Sputter; Median Sale Price Hits 80-Month High

September 11, 2014

Irvine, CA---Southern California home sales slipped to a four-year low for August as would-be buyers faced inventory and affordability challenges and investor purchases held at the lowest level in several years. The median sale price climbed to a post-recession high, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 18,796 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 7.7 percent from 20,369 sales in July, and down 18.5 percent from 23,057 sales in August 2013, according to CoreLogic DataQuick data.

On average, sales have risen 3.7 percent between July and August since 1988, when CoreLogic DataQuick statistics begin. Southland sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 11 consecutive months. Sales during the month of August have ranged from a low of 16,379 in 1992 to a high of 39,562 in 2003. Last month’s sales were 28.2 percent below the August average of 26,169 sales.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the six-county region last month was $420,000, up 1.7 percent from $413,000 in July and up 9.1 percent from $385,000 in August 2013. Last month’s median was the highest for any month since December 2007, when it was $425,000. The median’s 9.1 percent year-over-year gain in August was the highest in three months. But it also marked the third consecutive month with a single-digit annual increase following 22 months of double-digit year-over-year gains as high as 28.3 percent.

“There was certainly pressure on home values this summer but some of that jump in the August median sale price appears to reflect a shift in market mix. A slightly higher share of sales occurred in the more expensive coastal markets, and that can nudge up the median. Nevertheless, prices are high enough to be a hurdle for a lot of potential buyers, even though mortgage rates have fallen in recent months. And price isn’t the only impediment. Some still struggle to qualify for a loan or to mend their household finances in the wake of the Great Recession. Others are simply waiting for price appreciation to give them enough equity in their homes to make a move up,” said Andrew LePage, an analyst with Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick.

Last month three counties – San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange – logged single-digit, year-over-year gains in their median sale prices, while Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties saw double-digit increases. Orange County’s $590,000 August median was the closest – within 8.5 percent – to its all-time peak of $645,000 in June 2007.

For the Southland overall the August median stood 16.8 percent below the peak $505,000 median in spring/summer 2007.

Home prices have been rising at different rates depending on price segment. In August, the lowest-cost third of the region's housing stock saw a 13.1 percent year-over-year increase in the median price paid per square foot for resale houses. The annual gain was 7.9 percent for the middle third of the market and 4.3 percent for the top, most-expensive third.

The number of homes that sold for $500,000 or more last month fell 0.6 percent compared with a year earlier. But sales below $500,000 fell 16.3 percent year-over-year. Sales below $200,000 dropped 35.6 percent. Sales in the lower price ranges are hampered by, among other things, the drop in affordability over the last year, a fussy mortgage market and a relatively low inventory of homes for sale.

In August, 37.2 percent of all Southland home sales were for $500,000 or more, up from 37.1 percent in July and up from 33.3 percent in August 2013. The $500,000-plus level peaked for this year in June at 38.1 percent.

Distressed property sales continued to fade as a market force.

Foreclosure resales – homes foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – represented 5.0 percent of the Southland resale market last month. That was down from 5.2 percent the prior month and down from 7.0 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 5.9 percent of Southland resales last month. That was up slightly from 5.8 percent the prior month and down from 11.5 percent a year earlier.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 23.5 percent of the Southland homes sold last month. That tied the July level as the lowest absentee share since December 2010, when 23.4 percent of homes sold to absentee buyers. Last month’s figure was down from 26.7 percent a year earlier. The peak was 32.4 percent in January 2013, while the monthly average since 2000, when the CoreLogic DataQuick absentee data begin, is about 19 percent.

Cash purchases hovered near a 5.5-year low last month. Buyers paying cash accounted for 24.4 percent of August home sales, up a hair from a revised 24.1 percent in July and down from 28.4 percent in August last year. The July 2014 figure was the lowest since January 2009, when 22.0 percent of Southland homes were bought with cash. The peak was 36.9 percent in February 2013, and since 1988 the monthly average is 16.6 percent.

In August, Southern California home buyers committed a total of $4.57 billion of their own money in the form of down payments or cash purchases. That was up from a revised $4.49 billion in July. The out-of-pocket total peaked in May 2013 at $5.41 billion.

Although credit conditions remain fairly tight, the use of larger “jumbo” home loans and adjustable-rate mortgages has generally trended higher this year compared with last, edging toward more normal levels.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 32.3 percent of last month’s Southland purchase lending, which is unchanged from July and the highest level since the credit crunch struck in August 2007. Last month's figure was up from 27.0 percent a year earlier. Prior to August 2007 jumbos accounted for around 40 percent of the home loan market. The jumbo level dropped to as low as 9.3 percent in January 2009.

In August, 13.3 percent of Southland home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), down slightly from 13.6 percent in July and up from 11.7 percent a year ago. ARM use dropped to as low as 1.9 percent of all purchase loans in May 2009. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 31 percent of Southland purchase loans have been ARMs.

All lenders combined provided a total of $6.36 billion in mortgage money to Southern California home buyers in August, down from a revised $6.51 billion in July and down from $6.51 billion in August last year.

The typical monthly mortgage payment Southland buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,624, up from a revised $1,602 the month before and up from $1,553 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 33.6 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 45.6 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

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

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

Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

July Las Vegas Region Home Sales Press Release

Las Vegas Region July Home Sales

Las Vegas-area home sales changed little last month from June and were the lowest for a July in six years as the share of homes sold to investors and other absentee buyers dropped to a 67-month low. The median price paid for a home held steady with June and its increase from a year earlier was the smallest in more than two years, a real estate information service reported.

In July, 4,260 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 1.1 percent from the month before and down 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally.

Sales in the Las Vegas region typically dip from June to July. On average sales have fallen 5.3 percent between those two months since 1994, when CoreLogic DataQuick's complete Las Vegas-area statistics begin. Sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for the past 10 months.

Last month's home sales were the lowest for the month of July since 2008, when 4,134 homes sold, and they were 12.2 percent below the average number sold during all months of July since 1994. However, resales of houses and condos combined were 9.3 percent above average for July, while sales of newly built homes were nearly 62 percent below the July average. Condo resales were 22.6 percent higher than the July average, while resales of detached houses were 6.2 percent above average.

Las Vegas region buyers paid a median $190,000 for all new and resale houses and condos purchased in July, the same as the June median and up 9.6 percent from $173,350 a year earlier. The June and July medians are the highest since the median was also $190,000 in November 2008.

The median sale price’s year-over-year gains over the past 28 consecutive months ranged from 1.7 percent to 36.5 percent. This July’s 9.6 percent year-over-year increase in the median was the lowest for any month since June 2012 and it marked the median's first single-digit annual increase following two years of double-digit year-over-year gains each month.

July’s median was 39.1 percent below the region’s peak $312,000 median in November 2006.

The run-up in home prices varies somewhat depending on price segment. In July, the lowest-cost third of the region’s housing stock saw a 15.9 percent year-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses. The annual increase was 12.1 percent for the market’s middle third and 11.4 percent for the top, most-expensive third.

In July, the number of homes that sold for less than $100,000 dropped 32.1 percent compared with a year earlier, the result of both higher prices this year as well as the thin supply of lower-cost homes for sale. Sub-$200,000 transactions fell 20.8 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, the number of homes that sold for $200,000 or more rose 1.8 percent year-over-year. July sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – increased 0.9 percent from a year earlier, while the number selling for $500,000 or more rose 10.9 percent.

Absentee buyers, which include investors and some vacation-home buyers, purchased 34.7 percent of the homes sold in July, down from 36.3 percent the month before and down from 46.2 percent a year earlier. In July the absentee buyer share of total sales was the lowest since it was 33.8 percent in January 2009. The monthly average for the absentee buyer share since January 2000 is 35.4 percent, while the peak was 51.2 percent in March 2012.

The drop in investment activity corresponds with a decline in all-cash purchases, mainly because many investors pay with cash. In July, cash was used to purchase 38.7 percent of all homes sold, up a tad from 37.3 percent the month before and down from 58.5 percent a year earlier. The June 2014 cash level was the lowest for any month since December 2008, when 32.6 percent of homes were bought with cash. The monthly average for cash sales since 1994 is 23.8 percent.

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

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157


Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

July California Home Sale press release

California July Home Sales

August 14, 2014

An estimated 39,608 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide in July. That was up 0.9 percent from 39,254 in June, and down 8.7 percent from 43,381 sales in July 2013, according to Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick.

July sales have varied from a low of 30,596 in 1995 to a high of 71,186 in 2004. Last month's sales were 14.0 percent below the average of 45,935 sales for all months of July since 1988, when CoreLogic DataQuick 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 $392,000, down 0.3 percent from $393,000 in June and up 8.0 percent from $363,000 in July 2013. Last month was the 29th consecutive month in which the state's median sale price rose year-over-year. It was the first year-over-year increase below 10 percent since June 2012, when the $274,000 median was up 8.3 percent. This cycle's year-over-year increases peaked at 29.2 percent in July last year.

In March/April/May 2007 California's median sale price hit an all-time peak of $484,000. The post-peak trough was $221,000 in April 2009.

Of the homes that resold last month, 5.6 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from 5.8 percent in June and down from 8.3 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent of the resale market in February 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 6.6 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was up slightly from an estimated 6.3 percent the month before and down from 12.7 percent a year earlier.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that California buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,521, down from $1,530 the month before and up from $1,449 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month's payment was 35.6 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 47.8 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006. It was 61.6 percent above the January 2012 bottom of the current cycle.

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright DataQuick. All rights reserved.

July Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

Sluggish Bay Area Home Sales in July; Prices Up – at a Slower Pace

August 14, 2014

Irvine, CA.----Bay Area home sales dipped last month, the result of continued constrained supply, the decline in affordability, and a still-tight mortgage market. While still rising year-over-year, the median sale price stayed at a three-month plateau, CoreLogic DataQuick reported.

A total of 8,474 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 7.1 percent from 7,915 in June and down 9.3 percent from 9,339 in July last year, according to Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick, a real estate information service.

Bay Area sales usually decline around 5 percent from June to July. Sales for the month of July have varied from 6,666 in 1995 to 14,258 in 2004. The average since 1988, when CoreLogic DataQuick statistics begin, is 9,333.

“The Bay Area housing market is still in transition, still dealing with the remnants of the Great Recession. That said, it's also a market that is in the process of re-balancing itself with the region's on-the-ground economic realities, mainly decent economic growth and job creation. There still seems to be a bit of buyer and seller reticence. Meanwhile, many analysts are still drumming their fingers on the table, waiting for the mortgage market to normalize,” said John Karevoll, CoreLogic DataQuick analyst.

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area was $617,000 in July. That was down 0.2 percent from $618,000 in June, and up 9.8 percent from $562,000 in July last year. The May median was $617,000. Last month’s was the first single-digit year-over-year increase since May 2012, when the median rose 7.5 percent. A year ago the median jumped 33.5 percent year-over-year, the steepest part of the off-bottom bounce.

The Bay Area’s median sale price peaked at $665,000 in June and July 2007, then dropped to a low of $290,000 in March 2009. Last month's median was 7.2 percent off the peak.

The number of homes that sold last month for less than $500,000 dropped 17.2 percent year-over-year, while the number that sold for more rose 3.2 percent.

Over the past year, a variety of market indicators have trended incrementally toward long-term norms, though they sometimes vacillate month-to-month.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), an important indicator of mortgage availability, accounted for 25.6 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans in July, down from a revised 26.6 percent in June, and up from 19.3 percent in July last year. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 46.7 percent of all Bay Area purchase loans.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 56.6 percent of last month’s purchase lending, down from a revised 56.7 percent in June, and up from 49.9 percent a year ago. The June jumbo level was the highest since the credit crunch struck in August 2007. During the last housing downturn, 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 10.9 percent of all Bay Area purchase mortgages in July, up from 10.4 percent in June and up from 9.8 percent a year earlier.

Last month foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 2.7 percent of resales, down from a revised 2.9 percent from the month before, and down from 4.6 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales in the Bay Area peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009, while the monthly average over the past 17 years is 9.8 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 4.2 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 4.4 percent in June and down from 8.5 percent a year earlier.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – accounted for 18.8 percent of all Bay Area home sales, which was the lowest absentee share of purchases since that figure was 18.5 percent in September 2010. Last month’s absentee share was down from a revised 19.1 percent the month before and down from 20.5 percent 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 20.2 percent of sales in July, down from a revised 20.8 percent in June and down from 23.5 percent a year earlier. July’s cash level was the lowest since cash buyers also purchased 20.2 percent of all homes in November 2008.

Bay Area home buyers put $2.52 billion of their own money on the table in the form of a down payment or as an outright cash purchase last month. They borrowed $3.69 billion in mortgage money from lenders last month, the most since $3.82 billion in August 2007.

The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers in July were Wells Fargo with 13.2 percent of the purchase loan market, Bank of America with 4.7 percent and RPM Mortgage with 4.0 percent, CoreLogic DataQuick reported.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $2,394. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 17.8 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 39.2 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007. It was 86.2 percent above the February 2012 bottom of the current cycle.

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

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

July Southland Home Sale Press Release

Southland Home Sales Fall Yr/Yr Again; Prices Rise at Slower Pace

August 13, 2014

Irvine, CA---Southern California home sales fell to a three-year low for the month of July as supply continued to fall short of demand, some buyers struggled with higher prices, and investor activity fell. Cash deals declined to the lowest level in more than four years, while the median sale price dipped from June and rose from a year ago at the slowest pace in more than two years, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 20,369 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 1.4 percent from 20,654 sales in June, and down 12.4 percent from 23,253 sales in July 2013, according to Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick.

On average, sales have declined 6.3 percent between June and July since 1988, when CoreLogic DataQuick statistics begin. Southland sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 10 consecutive months. Sales during the month of July have ranged from a low of 16,225 in July 1995 to a high of 38,996 in July 2003. Last month’s sales were 19.4 percent below the July average of 25,269 sales.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the six-county region last month was $413,000, down 0.5 percent from $415,000 in June and up 7.3 percent from $385,000 in July 2013. The June 2014 median was the highest for any month since January 2008, when it was also $415,000. The median’s 7.3 percent year-over-year gain in July was the lowest since June 2012, when the $300,000 median rose 5.3 percent.

“Prices came a long way in a couple of years, and now a lot of would-be buyers just can’t stretch their finances enough to buy in today’s more conservative lending environment. That’s not the only reason price appreciation is easing, but it’s one of the main ones. July was the first month in two years in which all but one of the six Southland counties posted a single-digit year-over-year increase in its median sale price. The more spectacular annual price gains of a year ago – over 20 percent – seem far back in the rear view mirror now. Looking ahead, such double-digit price jumps seem unlikely unless there’s a burst of pent-up demand, perhaps triggered by more robust income growth, a loosening of mortgage credit or a significant move in interest rates,” said Andrew LePage, CoreLogic DataQuick analyst.

The Southland median has risen on a year-over-year basis for 28 straight months. In June, however, the median’s 22-month streak of double-digit year-over-year gains ended. The peak annual gain during that stretch was 28.3 percent in June 2013.

Last month five counties – San Diego, Los Angeles, Ventura and Riverside – logged single-digit, year-over-year gains in their median sale prices.

The Southland’s July median stood 18.2 percent below the peak $505,000 median in spring/summer 2007.

Home prices continued to rise at different rates depending on price segment. In July, the lowest-cost third of the region's housing stock saw a 16.7 percent year-over-year increase in the median price paid per square foot for resale houses. The annual gain was 8.3 percent for the middle third of the market and 7.1 percent for the top, most-expensive third.

The number of homes that sold for $500,000 or more last month was almost even with a year earlier, declining 0.9 percent from July 2013. But sales below $500,000 fell 17.2 percent year-over-year. Sales below $200,000 plunged 37.1 percent. Sales in the lower price ranges are hampered by, among other things, the drop in affordability over the last year, a fussy mortgage market and a relatively thin inventory of homes for sale.

In July, 37.2 percent of all Southland home sales were for $500,000 or more, down a tad from a revised 38.0 percent in June, which had the highest level since $500,000-plus deals made up 38.3 percent of sales in December 2007. In July last year 33.2 percent of sales were above the $500,000 threshold.

Distressed property sales continued to recede last month.

Foreclosure resales – homes foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 5.2 percent of the Southland resale market last month. That was down from a revised 5.3 percent the prior month and down from 7.7 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 5.9 percent of Southland resales last month. That was down from a revised 6.0 percent the prior month and down from 12.7 percent a year earlier.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 23.6 percent of the Southland homes sold last month. That was the lowest share since December 2010, when 23.4 percent of homes sold to absentee buyers. Last month’s 23.6 percent absentee share was down from a revised 23.9 percent in June and down from 27.4 percent a year earlier. The peak was 32.4 percent in January 2013, while the monthly average since 2000, when the CoreLogic DataQuick absentee data begin, is about 19 percent.

Cash purchases dropped to the lowest level in more than four years last month. Buyers paying cash accounted for 24.5 percent of July home sales, down from a revised 25.6 percent the month before and down from 30.0 percent in July last year. The last time cash purchases were lower than last month was in June 2010, when 24.2 percent of Southland homes were bought with cash. The peak was 36.9 percent in February 2013, and since 1988 the monthly average is 16.6 percent.

In July, Southern California home buyers forked over a total of $4.51 billion of their own money in the form of down payments or cash purchases. That was down from a revised $4.77 billion in June. The out-of-pocket total peaked in May 2013 at $5.41 billion.

Although credit conditions overall remain relatively tight, the use of larger “jumbo” home loans and adjustable-rate mortgages has trended higher this year, toward more normal levels.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 32.3 percent of last month’s Southland purchase lending – the highest jumbo level for any month since the credit crunch struck in August 2007. Last month's figure was up a hair from 32.2 percent in June and up from 27.9 percent a year earlier. Prior to August 2007 jumbos accounted for around 40 percent of the home loan market. The jumbo level dropped to as low as 9.3 percent in January 2009.

In July, 13.6 percent of Southland home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), down slightly from 13.9 percent in June and up from 10.9 percent a year ago. ARM use dropped to as low as 1.9 percent of all purchase loans in May 2009. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 31 percent of Southland purchase loans have been ARMs.

All lenders combined provided a total of $6.44 billion in mortgage money to Southern California home buyers in July, up from a revised $6.35 billion in June and down from $6.54 billion in July last year.

The most active lenders to Southern California home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 6.9 percent of the total home purchase loan market, Bank of America with 2.8 percent and New America Funding with 2.5 percent.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 18.8 percent of all purchase mortgages last month. That was the same as the month before and down from 19.0 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 $1,602, down from a revised $1,616 the month before and up from $1,537 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 34.4 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 46.3 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

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

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

Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

June Las Vegas Home Sale Press Release

Las Vegas Region June Home Sales

Las Vegas-area home sales were stuck at a six-year low in June as would-be buyers continued to face inventory, affordability and credit challenges, and as the share of homes purchased by cash and absentee buyers fell again. The median sale price rose from May to a 67-month high, but the median’s year-over-year gain was the lowest in two years, a real estate information service reported.

In June, 4,213 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 5.0 percent from the month before and down 11.7 percent from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally.

Las Vegas-area sales typically rise a bit from May to June. On average, sales have risen 7.4 percent between those two months since 1994, when CoreLogic DataQuick's complete Las Vegas-area statistics begin. Sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for nine consecutive months.

June’s home sales were the lowest for the month of June since 2008, when 3,829 homes sold, and they were 18.8 percent below the average number sold during all months of June since 1994. However, resales of houses and condos combined were 2.2 percent above average for a June, while sales of newly built homes were 63.6 percent below the June average. June’s condo resales were 14.1 percent higher than the June average, while resales of detached houses were 0.5 percent below average.

In the first half of 2014 (January-June), total home sales fell 15.9 percent from the same period in 2013.

Home sales have been constrained by higher prices and mortgage rates compared with this time last year, as well as by credit challenges and a tight supply of homes for sale, especially in the lower price ranges. Some owners still can’t afford to sell because they owe more than their homes are worth, or they still lack enough equity to allow them to purchase another home. Also, foreclosures have trended lower in recent years, meaning fewer discounted distressed properties for sale. However, compared with May there was a spike in foreclosures during June that likely was related to a sharp rise in Notice of Default (NoD) filings last September. NoDs reportedly soared last September in advance of a new foreclosure law that took effect the following month. It takes months for a distressed home to wind its way through the foreclosure process, from the NoD filing to the foreclosure event.

Las Vegas region buyers paid a median $190,000 for all new and resale houses and condos purchased in June, up 2.7 percent from $185,000 in May and up 11.8 percent from $170,000 a year earlier. June’s median was the highest since the median was also $190,000 in November 2008.

The median sale price’s year-over-year gains over the past 27 consecutive months have ranged from 1.7 percent to 36.5 percent. June’s 11.7 percent year-over-year increase was the lowest since the median rose 8.7 percent in June 2012. The median’s year-over-year increases have been double-digit for the past 24 months.

June’s median was 39.1 percent below the region’s peak $312,000 median in November 2006.

The run-up in home prices varies somewhat depending on price segment. In June, the lowest-cost third of the region’s housing stock saw a 19.9 percent year-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses. The annual increase was 13.7 percent for the market’s middle third and 13.9 percent for the top, most-expensive third.

San Diego-based DataQuick was acquired in March by Irvine-based CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider. CoreLogic DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

In June, the number of sales where the price was below $100,000 dropped 34.6 percent compared with a year earlier, the result of both higher prices this year as well as the tight supply of lower-cost homes for sale. Sub-$200,000 transactions fell 22.1 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, the number of homes that sold for $200,000 or more rose 6.5 percent year-over-year. June sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – increased 7.4 percent from a year earlier, while the number selling for $500,000 or more fell 1.1 percent.

Investors' presence in the Las Vegas market continued to wane. Absentee buyers, which include investors and some vacation-home buyers, purchased 36.4 percent of the homes sold in June, down from 38.1 percent the month before and down from 46.4 percent a year earlier. In June the absentee buyer share of total sales was the lowest since it was 36.2 percent in November 2009. The monthly average for the absentee buyer share since January 2000 is 35.4 percent, while the peak was 51.2 percent in March 2012.

The decline in investment activity corresponds with a drop in cash purchases, in large part because many investors pay with cash. In June cash was used to purchase 37.3 percent of all homes sold –the lowest level since 32.6 percent of homes were bought with cash in December 2008. June’s cash share was down from 40.3 percent in May and down from a record 60.1 percent a year earlier. The monthly average for cash sales since 1994 is 23.7 percent.

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

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157


Copyright 2014 DataQuick. All rights reserved.