Continued slowdown for Southland home sales

September 19, 2006

La Jolla,CA----Home sales in Southern California continued at their slowest pace in nine years as price levels appeared to be nearing a plateau, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 25,628 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 12.8% from 22,712 in July, and down 25.3 percent from 34,292 for August a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Sales have declined on a year-over-year basis the last nine months. Last month's sales count was the lowest for any August since 22,308 homes were sold in August 1997. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988, August sales have varied from 12,769 in 1992 to 35,339 in 1988. An average August has 25,845 sales.

"There's an awful lot of moaning going on right now. Potential buyers and sellers need to be careful what they believe and exercise common sense in their decision making. The market is certainly off from its frenzy, but we have to remember that it takes much more downward pressure to push prices down than upward pressure to push them up. Prices have doubled the last four-and-a-half years. So does the market keep all of that gain, or only ninety percent?," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southland home was $489,000 last month. That was down 0.6 percent from July's $492,000, and up 2.7 percent from $476,000 in August last year. Last month's increase was the smallest since July 1999, when the $193,000 median also rose 2.7 percent from $188,000 a year earlier.

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 $2,339 last month, down from $2,437 the previous month and up from $2,123 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are about 8.7 percent above typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle.

Indicators of market distress are still largely absent. Financing with adjustable-rate mortgages has trended lower over the past year. Foreclosure activity is rising but is still low in a historical context. Down payment sizes are stable, as are flipping rates and non-owner occupied buying activity, DataQuick reported.

All Homes	No Sold Aug-05	No Sold Aug-06	Pct. Chg	Median Aug-05	Median Aug-06	Pct. Chg
Los Angeles	11,653	9,193	-21.1%	$494K	$517K	4.7%
Orange County	4,708	3,203	-32.0%	$617K	$633K	2.6%
San Diego	5,379	3,666	-31.8%	$493K	$482K	-2.2%
Riverside	6,452	4,879	-24.4%	$388K	$415K	7.0%
San Bernardino	4,522	3,611	-20.1%	$344K	$365K	6.1%
Ventura	1,578	1,076	-31.8%	$592K	$598K	1.0%
So. California	34,292	25,628	-25.3%	$476K	$489K	2.7%

Source: DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534

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