California Home Sales and Median Prices in March

The California Association of Realtors released their report on California existing home sales and median prices in March. The statewide median price rose over the 12 months ending in March by 7.2% to $468,550. Compared with February the median price jumped by 9.2% to reach the highest price level in seven months. The rate of increase also outpaced the long-run February-to-March average of 3.9%.

Statewide, the number of single-family homes that closed escrow in March increased by 7.3% over the year to 391,680 units (seasonally adjusted, annualized rate) and were up by 6.3% compared with February. With the first back-to-back year-over-year bump in sales since December 2012, California’s housing market appears to be picking up steam.

The stronger pace of sales in March had the effect of reducing inventories. Statewide, there was a 3.8-month supply of homes for sale in March versus 5.0 months in February and 4.0 months a year ago. In the Los Angeles metro area, the supply of homes for sale fell to 3.2 months in March, down from 4.3 in February and in the Inland Empire, the supply was 4.9 months compared with 6.7. The low inventory of homes for sale in California has created a shortage of housing relative to demand and that, coupled with low interest rates, continues to push home prices higher.

Mortgage interest rates moved up again in March. The average 30-year fixed rate was 3.77%, up from 3.71% in February but was still down from 4.34% a year ago.

Below is a year-over-year summary of sales and price activity in Southern California by county. Although the statewide sales figures are seasonally adjusted, regional and county figures are not.

§  Los Angeles County:  unit sales increased by 7.6% over the year in March, while the median price also rose by 7.6% to $425,860.

§  Orange County:  sales were up by 13.8% last month with the median price inching up by 3.0% to $696,060.

§  Riverside County:  sales of existing homes rose by 5.5% and the median price increased by 6.8% to $331,710.

§  San Bernardino County:  sales shot up by 16.5% in March with the median price rising by 14.4% to $215,640.

§  San Diego County:  unit sales were up by 5.7% and the median price rose by 8.2% to $530,650.

§  Ventura County:  Sales surged by 23.6% over the year while the median price moved up by 6.7% to $596,890.

Source: http://www.car.org/newsstand/newsreleases/2015releases/march2015sales?view=Standard