While year over year sales in SLO County were down 7.3%, home sales in Tulare County pushed higher than the year before by 16.3%.
LOS ANGELES (Nov. 15) – As market uncertainties continue to linger, California home sales declined for the sixth straight month in October and remained below the 400,000-level sales benchmark for the third consecutive month, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) said today.
Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 397,060 units in October, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2018 if sales maintained the October pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.
October’s sales figure was up 3.8 percent from the revised 382,550 level in September and down 7.9 percent compared with home sales in October 2017 of 431,070. October marked the third month in a row that sales were below 400,000, which hasn’t occurred since February 2015.
“Homebuyers continued to put their homeownership plans on hold in October and wait out the market,” said 2019 C.A.R. President Jared Martin. “With mortgage rates at seven-year highs making homeownership more expensive and home prices beginning to flatten, this phenomenon will likely continue for the near term as buyers wait for further price adjustments and for interest rates to stabilize.”
The statewide median home price fell to $572,000 in October. The October statewide median price was down 1.2 percent from $578,850 in September and up 4.7 percent from a revised $546,430 in October 2017.
“October’s sales decline was not as severe as the double-digit drop experienced in September, but the continued pullback in sales suggests the market will continue to slow and likely soften further into 2019,” said C.A.R. Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. “Likewise, as home sales continue to soften, the median price, which was the lowest since March 2018, will also ease up,” said Appleton-Young.
Other key points from C.A.R.’s October 2018 resale housing report include:
- On a regionwide, non-seasonally adjusted basis, the Southern California region continued to lead the state’s sales decline, falling 7.8 percent from a year ago. Orange, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties all experienced year-over-year, double-digit declines of 11.3 percent, 11.4 percent, and 13.2 percent, respectively. Sales in Los Angeles County declined 5.9 percent and were down 2.9 percent in Riverside County. Only Ventura County recorded a 1.1 percent increase from a year ago.
- Sales for the San Francisco Bay Area as a whole decreased 3.0 percent from a year ago, while five of nine counties recorded annual sales increases. Napa and Sonoma counties posted strong year-over-year sales gains, primarily because sales fell significantly after the October 2017 wildfires that occurred in those areas. Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties also recorded annual sales increases.
- Sales in the Central Valley region declined again in October, though at a smaller rate than the previous month. Home sales decreased 3.3 percent from a year ago with seven of 12 counties down on a year-over-year basis.
In our reading area San Luis Obispo county’s median price fell in October to $586,000 from $639,00 in September ,up from $560,000 in Oct 2017. In Tulare County the median was $232,00, down from $240,000 in Sept and up from October 2017 when it was $225,00.
While year over year sales in SLO were down 7.3%, home sales in Tulare pushed higher than the year before by 16.3%.