Selling $1 million homes

They're beginning to stack up in California, according to JP Morgan Chase analysts (from Bloomberg and Curbed LA). Looking at April numbers, the inventory levels for $1 million-plus properties shot up from a year earlier, but the $750,000-$1 million bracket showed a slight decline. Below $750,000 the inventory shrinkage was substantial (the category under $300,000 has an inventory of under three months). From Bloomberg:

"Currently, we have national home prices bottoming in 2011," [the analysts] said. "However, prices for more expensive homes may not bottom out until 2012, and ultimately result in peak-to- trough declines in excess of 60 percent (compared to 40 percent nationally)." "California is probably worse than other states, but higher-priced homes in general are going to be a problem," [analyst John] Sim said in a telephone interview today.

One explanation is the tighter lending standards for "jumbo" mortgages, which are typically used to finance expensive homes. In general, cheaper homes can be financed a lot easier.