Southland in July: Strong Sales, New Price Peak

August 15, 2005

La Jolla,CA----The median price paid for a home in Southern California reached a new peak for the sixth month in a row in July, while the sales pace eased back from June's record-breaking tempo, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 31,069 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 12.4 percent from 35,454 in June, and down 5.8 percent from 32,988 for July last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The June sales count was an all-time high for any calendar month. A total of 204,588 homes have sold during the first seven months of this year, down 2.7 percent from 210,159 for the same period last year.

"We're watching the market carefully for any signs of a turn, for any signs of the 'bursting bubble' that some analysts have been predicting. So far we're not seeing anything other than the normal incremental changes you would expect in the ebb and flow of a real estate cycle," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southern California home was $469,000 last month, another record. That was up 0.9 percent from $465,000 in June, and up 16.7 percent from $402,000 for July 2004.

Year-over-year price changes varied from 5.1 percent in San Diego County to 27.6 percent in San Bernardino County.

DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, 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 Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $2,072 last month, up from $2,021 for the previous month, and up from $1,846 for July a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are about 5 percent below their peak in the spring 1989.

Indicators of market distress are still largely absent. Foreclosure activity has bottomed out, but is still low. Down payment sizes are stable, as are flipping rates and non-owner occupied buying activity , DataQuick reported.

All Homes	No Sold July-04	No Sold July-05	Pct. Chg	Median July-04	Median July-05	Pct. Chg
Los Angeles	11,549	10,711	-7.3%	$406K	$488K	20.2%
Orange County	4,193	4,341	3.5%	$525K	$601K	14.5%
San Diego	5,658	4,765	-15.8%	$472K	$496K	5.1%
Riverside	5,972	5,762	-3.5%	$327K	$385K	17.7%
San Bernardino	4,335	4,084	-5.8%	$257K	$328K	27.6%
Ventura	1,281	1,406	9.8%	$502K	$579K	15.3%
So. California	32,988	31,069	-5.8%	$402K	$469K	16.7%

Source: DQNews.com

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