SoCal Home Sales Rise as Prices Fall

Several factors explain the sharp drop in the median price: Regionwide home price depreciation, relatively slow high-end sales, and the rising market share of foreclosure resales, which tend to sell at a discount.

Problems in the jumbo mortgage market continue to undermine high-end home sales. Before the credit crunch hit last August, 40% of sales were financed with jumbos, then defined as over $417,000. Last month just 13.2% of purchase loans were over $417,000.

MDA DataQuick is a division of MDA Lending Solutions, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. MDA DataQuick 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 Southern California buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,458 last month, down from $1,566 the previous month, and down from $2,198 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 31.9% below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 44.4% below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity is at or near record levels, financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is near the all-time low, as is financing with multiple mortgages. Down payment sizes and flipping rates are stable, non-owner occupied buying activity appears flat but might be emerging, MDA DataQuick reported.

September Home Sales in Southern California
All homes	Sep-07	Sep-08	%Chng	Sep-07	Sep-08	%Chng
Los Angeles	4,361	6,274	43.9%	$525,000	$360,000	-31.4%
Orange	1,643	2,667	62.3%	$570,000	$425,000	-25.4%
Riverside	2,208	4,551	106.1%	$375,500	$237,500	-36.8%
San Bernardino	1,509	2,831	87.6%	$325,000	$205,000	-36.9%
San Diego	2,152	3,366	56.4%	$470,000	$328,000	-30.2%
Ventura	582	808	38.8%	$545,500	$385,000	-29.4%
SoCal	12,455	20,497	64.6%	$462,000	$308,500	-33.2%