Another so-so month for housing market

Not horrible, but far from wonderful - just the continuation of a long-running story that centers on lots of foreclosures, too many homeowners under water, and stubbornly tight lending policies. L.A. home sales were up 6.6 percent in October compared with a year earlier, according to Dataquick, and down 11.5 percent from the previous month. A sales drop between September and October is typical, but last month's decline was especially large. L.A.'s median price of $300,000 was down 7.7 percent from a year earlier and 3.2 percent from September. From press release:

"For a few months now, lower prices and amazingly low mortgage rates have kept resale activity slightly ahead of last year. Of course, that's not saying a lot when you consider sales were 25 to 30 percent below average. The market continues to struggle with a difficult lending environment, uncertainty among potential buyers, underwater homeowners who can't move up, and a weak job market. The lower conforming loan limits implemented last month help explain the relatively sharp drop in mid- to high-end sales during October. Now we'll have to see if the private loan market can fill the void," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Those conforming loan limits were lowered from $729,750 to $625,500 in L.A. and Orange counties. October sales varied a lot, with lower-end homes showing the most activity and higher-end the least (anything above $800,000 took a real hit). Last month 17.4 percent of all sales were for $500,000 or more - the lowest portion since May 2009.

OCTOBER HOME SALES (% change from October 2010)
Los Angeles 5,830 +6.60%
Orange 2,241 -2.50%
Riverside 3,026 -7.30%
San Bernardino 2,300 -1.80%
Ventura 673 +8.70%

OCTOBER MEDIAN PRICE (% change from October 2010)
Los Angeles $300,000 -7.70%
Orange $405,000 -7.50%
Riverside $187,000 -5.60%
San Bernardino $150,000 0.00%
Ventura $335,000 -5.60%

Source: DQNews.com


More by Mark Lacter:
American-US Air settlement with DOJ includes small tweak at LAX
Socal housing market going nowhere fast
Amazon keeps pushing for faster L.A. delivery
Another rugged quarter for Tribune Co. papers
How does Stanford compete with the big boys?
Those awful infographics that promise to explain and only distort
Best to low-ball today's employment report
Further fallout from airport shootings
Crazy opening for Twitter*
Should Twitter be valued at $18 billion?
Recent Economy stories:
Those awful infographics that promise to explain and only distort
Best to low-ball today's employment report
Exit interview with Port of L.A.'s executive director
L.A. developers relying on foreign investors bend a few rules
Holiday shopping: On your marks, get set... spend!

New at LA Observed
On the Media Page
Go to Media

On the Politics Page
Go to Politics
Arts and culture

Sign up for daily email from LA Observed

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


Advertisement
Mark Lacter
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.
 
Mark Lacter, business writer and editor was 59
The multi-talented Mark Lacter
LA Observed on Twitter and Facebook