California Cools Off; Northwest Is Hot

The once-hot real estate markets in California and the Northeast are now trailing the Northwest, where homes are selling at an average of 30 days faster than last year, according to an annual survey by Des Moines-based Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Service.

California homes were on the market an average of 87 days during the first six months of this year in contrast with 44 for the same period of 1989, when several markets averaged less than one week.

This year’s figures in California are still better than those for Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Homes in those states were on the market an average of 120 days in contrast with 71 days for last year.

California also fared better than the Northeast, where homes averaged 143 days on the market, up from 127 days in 1989.

However, California has not been doing as well as Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming in terms of real estate activity. Homes there averaged 67 days on the market this year in contrast with 99 for last year.

And homes in Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle, sold in an average of 18 days.