April Sales Highest In Eight Months!

What happened? While we were all reading and listening to the bad news, someone has been buying homes! Dataquick reported that Southern California homes sales in April are at the highest levels since August of 2007. The bulk of the sales have mainly been in homes under $500,000 as those looking for great deals took advantage of the price slump and foreclosures. Thirty-seven percent of the homes sold last month were foreclosures.

In San Diego County, Chula Vista is among the highest areas of sales activity in Southern California. We have been searching for property for a client around the $350,000 range in Chula Vista, and we are finding multiple offers being made on multiple properties of interest to our buyers. It is not only Chula Vista where we are experiencing the phenomenon of multiple offers, we are also encountering it in other areas of the county in properties under $400K. It very much feels like San Diego has decided to buy while the bargains are hot.

"Quite a few more buyers stepped off the sidelines last month to snap up homes at substantial discounts relative to the market's short-lived peak," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president. "It's no surprise, given the magnitude of the price declines in inland areas and the fact sales have been so amazingly low for so long. We continue to look for evidence of a sales bounce in the mid-priced and higher-end markets along the coast. If the higher conforming loan limits are making a difference in those areas it's certainly not a large one, at least not as of the end of April."

According to DataQuick, indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity is at record levels, and, understandably financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is way down. However, down payment sizes and flipping rates are stable, and, interestingly, non-owner occupied buying activity is increasing.

All we know is that we are happy to see our first-time buyer clients finally being able to shop for a HOME!

The California Economy according to Bloomberg

Business reporter Daniel Taub interviewed C.A.R. Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young about the California economy on Bloomberg, Thursday March 20, 2008.

What this means for you, the consumer:

• Prospective borrowers worried about the foreclosure crisis should obtain pre-purchase homeownership counseling. A Harvard University analysis found that borrowers who received classroom and individual counseling were, respectively, 23 percent and 41 percent less likely to become 60 days delinquent than equivalent borrowers who did not undergo counseling.
• Calling the market low is a difficult task, and it's most often spotted in the rear-view mirror, according to MSN. While prices in many markets may have not yet hit their lowest point, the bottom may be near. And in other areas, only the pace of sales has been affected; prices have held firm or increased. Waiting for the absolute bottom puts consumers at risk of missing the best prices and getting caught up in a market on the upswing.

Making sense out of the news is just another way I serve East County as Your Personal Realtor!