June House, Condo Sales Slide 20% : Real estate: Activity since last year has slowed significantly, leaving the inventory of Valley properties at a record high of 14,954.
Despite declining interest rates and housing prices, the area’s housing market continued its slump as June sales of existing single-family houses and condominiums plunged 20% from a year ago, the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors reported Monday.
Housing activity usually picks up in the summer, and last month’s combined sales of 933 houses and condominiums were up 3% from May. But the June sales were well below a year ago, when 1,159 houses and condominiums closed escrow.
As a result, the inventory of Valley houses and condominiums for sale hit a record high 14,954 properties last month, up 5% from May and surpassing the prior high of 14,330 listings last August, the board said.
Lorrie Griffey, president of the realty board, said the big inventory coupled with declining mortgage rates present opportunities for buyers that “will be simply too tempting to resist.”
But other real estate executives offered a more dismal picture for the summer selling season, saying continuing layoffs in aerospace, the recent riots and the earthquakes are keeping buyers out of the market.
“People just want to stay where they are,” said Sam Lee, a broker at Pinnacle Estate Properties in Northridge. He added that buyers appear to be waiting for interest rates on fixed-rate loans, which declined recently to slightly above 8%, and housing prices to drop even further.
In June, there were 731 sales of existing single-family houses, up 4% from May but down 17% from a year ago. By region, the northeast area saw the sharpest month-to-month gain as sales of houses climbed 28% from May, to 115. Meanwhile, sales of houses in the north-central area fell 9% from May, to 96.
Overall, the average resale price for a single-family house was $282,800 in June, down 1% from the previous month and 6% from a year ago. The median price for single-family houses in June was $220,000, unchanged from May but 8% lower than a year ago. (The median price means that half the houses sold for more than $220,000 and half sold for less.)
Resales of condominiums totaled 202 last month, up 1% from May but down 28% from a year ago. The average price for a condominium was $161,100 in June, up 6% from May and 1% from June, 1991. The median condominium sales price was $148,000 in June, up 2% from May and down 2% from a year ago.
The Valley realty board said its listings of single-family houses climbed to 11,794 last month, up 6% from both May and a year ago. The inventory of condominiums jumped to 3,160, up 6% from May and 12% from a year ago.
The board, the largest such group in California, reports housing sales by its 8,000 members in the area from Agoura to North Hollywood.
Its statistics do not include sales of most new residences.
