Data Quick Reports California Home Sales

According to DQNews.com, a total of 20,513 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That makes it the slowest February in DataQuick's records, which go back to 1988. Sales were up 7.1 percent from 19,145 in January and down 34.3 percent from 31,228 for February last year.

The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes rose by 2.9 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million units. It marked the first sales increase since last July, but even with the gain sales were still 23.8 percent below where they were a year ago.

Prices continued to slide. The median sales price for single-family homes homes and condomiums dropped to $195,900, a fall of 8.2 percent from a year ago, the biggest slide in the current housing slump. The median price for just single-family homes was down 8.7 percent from a year ago, the biggest decline in four decades.

The median price paid for a California home last month was $373,000, down 2.6 percent from $383,000 for the month before, and down 21.0 percent from $472,000 for February a year ago. The median peaked last March/April/May at $484,000.

Around half the drop in median is due to shifts in the types of homes selling, and how those homes are financed. Last month 15.5 percent of the state's financed home purchases were purchased with "jumbo" loans over $417,000. A year ago it was 37.3 percent.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,665. That was down from $1,743 in January, and down from $2,196 for February a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, mortgage payments are back to where they were four years ago. They are 22.2 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 32.8 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.

A portion of this story comes courtesy of the Associated Press.

California 2008 Home Sales

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California home sales have tumbled to the lowest level in more than 20 years.

Many areas are posting hefty price declines as buyers meet difficulty obtaining financing for jumbo mortgages or hold off on entering the turbulent housing market.

More than 19,000 homes were purchased statewide last month, for a 41% drop from January 2007's total and down about 25% from December's sales.

The figures were released today by DataQuick Information Systems. The firm's statistics go back to 1988.

The state has seen sales decline year-over-year for 28 straight months as the once-booming housing market tanked and a credit crisis forced mortgage lenders to scale back so-called jumbo mortgages that exceed $417,000.

The decline in jumbo mortgages has made it harder for buyers to finance higher-end homes, and that's contributed to a steady decline in the state's median home price.

In January, it fell to $383,000, a drop of about 17% from $462,000 a year earlier and down about 5% from December.

The statewide median home price peaked last spring at $484,000.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.