“We typically see an uptick in distressedrnsales at the end of the year as lenders try to move these properties off theirrnbooks,” said C.A.R. President Kevin Brown.  “However, the supply ofrnforeclosures and short sales is the lowest it’s been since well before thernfinancial crisis, greatly constraining the number of these transactions.rn In addition, housing prices are improving across the board, even reachingrnpre-2007 levels in parts of the Bay Area. Higher prices and rising rates as thernFed slowly tapers are additional factors in the sales slowdown evidenced in thernDecember numbers.”</p

Salesrnin December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 361,890 units, downrn6.7 percent from November’s pace of 387,860 units and off 18.6 percent from thern444,770 rate in December 2012.  Preliminaryrnfigures indicate that 413,870 single family homes were sold statewide in 2013rncompared to 439,790 for all of 2012.  </p

The available supply of existingrnsingle-family homes for sale was down to 3 months in December from 3.6 monthsrnthe previous month.  In December 2012 thernsupply was estimated at 2.6 months. rnC.A.R. says that a six to seven month supply is considered typical in arnnormal market.  Median marketing time forrna single family home was 40.2 days in December, up from 36.7 days in Novemberrnand 38.1 days in December 2012.  </p

Homernprices, after falling for three months, rose again in December to a medianrnprice of $438,040 from November’s median of $422,210 and was a 19.7 percentrnannual increase from the median of $365,840 in December 2012.   Prices have increased by double digits fromrnthe same month a year earlier for 18 months and this was the first time in 15rnmonths that the annual increase fell below 20 percent. </p

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“While the month-to-month price gainrnwas higher than normal, home prices have been stabilizing in the second half ofrn2013, which is positive news for buyers who have been putting their home searchrnon hold until prices leveled off,” said C.A.R. Vice President and ChiefrnEconomist Leslie Appleton-Young.  “California’s housing market experiencedrnstrong price growth throughout the year, with the median price surging 27.5rnpercent for the year as a whole from $319,300 in 2012 to $407,180 inrn2013.  But again, the increase in the median price can be partlyrnattributed to the increase in sales of higher-priced properties, where tightrninventory was less of a factor.” </p

C.A.R’s sales data is generated fromrna survey of more than 90 Realtor associations throughout the state, and representrnstatistics of existing single-family detached homes only. 

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