{"id":153,"date":"2011-02-14T14:13:23","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T22:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/?p=153"},"modified":"2011-02-14T14:13:23","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T22:13:23","slug":"median-home-price-in-county-drops-8-7-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/median-home-price-in-county-drops-8-7-in-january\/","title":{"rendered":"Median home price in county drops 8.7% in January"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY\u00c2\u00a0LILY LEUNG<\/a>, UNION-TRIBUNE<\/p>\n

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2011 AT 2:13 P.M.<\/p>\n

Housing prices in San Diego County took their usual fall from December to January, a time when consumers spend more time at shopping malls than at open houses.<\/p>\n

The median price for all homes dropped to $304,000 from $333,000 in December, or 8.7 percent.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was the biggest December-to-January drop recorded by DataQuick Information Systems whose figures date back to January 1988. But real estate experts say it likely reflected the usual sluggishness of the holiday season. A year earlier, the median price dropped 7.6 percent to $305,000.<\/p>\n

The number of sales this year also slid month-over-month: A total of 2,248 units were sold in January, down 29.6 percent from the 3,191 sold in December. A year earlier, sales were off 36 percent to 2,322.<\/p>\n

The data also show slight year-over-year decreases: The overall median price fell 0.3 percent from January 2010 and sales were down 3.2 percent.<\/p>\n

Experts attribute this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drop to an atypical mix of inventory that includes a relatively high number of lower-priced homes, foreclosures and short sales.<\/p>\n

DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said that combination likely attracted a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153high concentration\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of investors who scored bargain deals.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That tugged (the median price) down,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LePage said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I also do think there are some areas that experienced price erosion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Single-family resales, which made up about 60 percent of total home sales in January, also dropped off in sales and median price. Such sales fell to 1,364 in January from 1,927 in December, while the median price dipped to $350,000 from $360,000.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is normal for January,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LePage said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a relatively low month. The $10,000 drop in price shows who was buying and that skewed toward lower-cost homes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Lou Galuppo, residential real estate director at University of San Diego\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, said prices and sales are likely slipping because more people are scooping up less-expensive inventory in the $300,000 to $400,000 range.<\/p>\n

More than 81 percent of all types of sales were under $500,000 in January. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the highest number since May 2009, DataQuick numbers show. In December, sales that were under $500,000 was 75 percent. It was 78.5 percent one year ago.<\/p>\n

Galuppo said another likely explanation is there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fewer homes to choose from because of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153shrinking\u00e2\u20ac\u009d inventory.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing normal about this market,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Galuppo, who likens the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s housing activity to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153W.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

He added: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re literally bouncing. The market is going up and the market is going down. Right now, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re at the leg of the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcW.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Last month, foreclosures made up about 33 percent of total resales, up from 31.2 percent in December. January was the third consecutive month that saw an increase in foreclosure resales.<\/p>\n

Other factors that could explain January\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s price and volume drops:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Almost 30 percent of transactions were made by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153absentee buyers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d people who likely will not occupy the homes. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up from 23.8 percent in December and 24.2 year-over-year.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Almost 30 percent of transactions were cash. A \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good chunk of those are absentee buyers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LePage said. January\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s figure rose from 26.1 percent in December and 28 percent year-over-year.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Sales of new homes reached their lowest point since January 2009, when 119 new units were sold. Sharon Hanley, an Oceanside housing analyst, said the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high level of foreclosures is hurting new-home sales because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153builders can pull down their prices only so far\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to compete with distressed properties.<\/p>\n

Original article at http:\/\/www.signonsandiego.com\/news\/2011\/feb\/14\/san-diego-county-median-home-price-drops-87-januar\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY\u00c2\u00a0LILY LEUNG, UNION-TRIBUNE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2011 AT 2:13 P.M. Housing prices in San Diego County took their usual fall from December to January, a time when consumers spend more time at shopping malls than at open houses. The median price for all homes dropped to $304,000 from $333,000 in December, or 8.7 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1597],"tags":[2271],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrybice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}