According to a report released by MDA DataQuick, Southern California home sales volume, particularly in San Diego County, has rebounded while homes prices in almost all counties plunged at a six year-record low.
Based on the firm’s data, median home prices in San Diego County plummeted by $22,000 to $328,000 for the month of August. Comparing it to the $517,000 peak last November 2005, the present figure clearly shows a 34.6 percentage decline.
As for home sale activity, there was a 56.4 percent rise in the number of sales transactions closed for September. Compared to 2,152 transactions last year, record showed 3,366 for the said month. This jump in sales activity was observed in the entire Southern California and only emphasized the really low home sales activity last year, when the foreclosure crisis was holding the market.
One of the things quite noticeable in the report is the increase in foreclosure sales, which basically showed that home buyers are favoring these repossessed properties over other homes. Of course, this is not surprising considering that these foreclosed properties are much more affordable and offer greater return potential.
The report also showed that about 47.3 percent of the sales transaction last September involved homes that were repossessed in the past 12 months. This is a significant rise to August’s 43.2 percent and September 2007’s 45.3 percent.
In a couple more days, the firm is expected to release new reports regarding the number of foreclosures in the state. If the current trend continues, the number of homes entering foreclosure will surely outpace the sales of these repo homes. In addition, DataQuick also expects more foreclosures after the financial market meltdown.
Home prices in Riverside and San Bernardino counties dropped by 36.8 and 36.9 percent respectively. Orange County’s declined by just 25.4 percent while Los Angeles County home prices was down by 31.4 percent.
