California January 2008 Home Sales
Found in DQNews (re: CA Home Sales)
A total of 19,145 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That's the lowest number for any month in DataQuick's records, which go back to 1988. It was 25.2 percent lower than December's 25,585 and 41.0 percent lower than 32,425 for January last year.The median price paid for a home last month was $383,000, down 4.7 percent from $402,000 for the month before, and down 17.1 percent from $462,000 for January a year ago. The median peaked last March/April/May at $484,000.
Much of the drop in median is due shifts in the types of homes selling, and how those homes are financed. Last month 17.6 percent of the state's financed home purchases were purchased with "jumbo" loans over $417,000. A year ago it was 36.2 percent.
The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,743. That was down from $1,878 in December, and down from $2,155 for January a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, mortgage payments are 18.2 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 29.3 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.
In reading the last paragraph one could be easy fooled into thinking that home prices have dropped 30%, and that buying a home now is more affordable than it's been in 20+ years. In fact, the paragraph preceeding the last qualifies this drop in mortgage payments as a shift in the types of homes that are being purchased. Don't be fooled my friends, there is still a lot of blood to be shed. The homes we desire have not seen this magnatude of depreciation... yet.