House Sales Slump Continues in August : Real estate: The average house price was $294,200, down 5% from a year ago. Properties listed for sale reached an all-time high.
The real estate slump continued in August as sales of single-family houses and condominiums fell 8% from July and declined 18% compared with a year ago, the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors reported Monday. Meanwhile, the inventory of unsold properties in the struggling real estate market reached a record level.
With 999 houses sold, August was the worst month for housing sales since February.
The average price of a single-family house sold in August rose 1% from July to $294,200, but that still marked a 5% decline from August, 1989. The average price of condominiums sold last month fell 5% from the previous month to $148,800 and dipped 1% from August, 1989.
Of the total sales last month, 760 were single-family houses. House sales slumped 4% from July and fell 18% below the number of single-family dwellings sold in August, 1989. The volume of condominiums sold was 239, down 20% from the previous month and 19% from a year earlier.
The board said a record 14,126 residences were for sale last month, up 1% from July and 27% more than the previous August. Of the total residences listed for sale, 11,437 were single-family houses and 2,689 were condominiums.
The number of new listings fell 15% from the previous August to 3,418. However, that total was 2.6% higher than July, when 3,332 new listings were added to the inventory of houses for sale.
Meanwhile, the average price of houses and condominiums combined sold in August dropped 5% from a year earlier to $259,400. However, that figure was up from the $254,900 average in July.
The board said the slowing rate of new listings, plus an increased willingness by sellers to either lower their asking prices or take their houses off the market, indicates that the reality of record inventory levels has begun to sink in.
“It shows that the days of unrealistic expectations appear to be over,” said board President Becky Roberts in a statement. “People who want to sell finally understand that they must ask reasonable prices.”
But several local real estate agents say the number of potential buyers has shrunk dramatically, and it will be six months to a year before the number of sales starts to pick up.
The hardest hit part of the Valley in August was the East Valley, the area east of the San Diego Freeway. In August, 330 single-family houses sold in that region for an average price of $242,800, in contrast to 377 sales in July at an average price of $259,350.
The Valley realty board, California’s largest, reports housing sales by its members in the area from North Hollywood to Agoura. Its statistics don’t include sales of most new residences.
AUGUST VALLEY HOUSE SALES
NORTH WEST Avg. Price: $317,600 Sales: 33
NORTH CENTRAL Avg. Price: $293,000 Sales: 123
NORTH EAST Avg. Price: $172,600 Sales: 142
SOUTH WEST Avg. Price: $341,000 Sales: 164
SOUTH CENTRAL Avg. Price: $343,000 Sales: 110
SOUTH EAST Avg. Price: $313,000 Sales: 188
