Home Sales up in September

In the month of September, homes sales in California were up 6.7 percent. Those looking for bargains were purchasing foreclosures while the median home price fell. In September, the median home price was $249,000.

Homebuyers were buying up foreclosures making sales go up 6.7 percent. Sales figures on the other hand, were still below average for the month of September for the Bay Area and southern California. DataQuick, a real estate information service home in San Diego revealed that home sales were lower than the figure seen in August, which is down 6.2 percent with a total of homes sold at 35,404 in September.

The median home price in September for September was $249,000, which is down 6 percent from what was seen in 2010 and the same as was seen in August of 2011. This is the 12th continuous year over year decrease in the median price. This means that many of the homes sold for half or less than what the home was worth.

DataQuick president, John Walsh stated the number of potential home buyers was growing but the demand is not seen in the numbers yet.

He stated, “Empty-nesters want something smaller, growing families want something bigger,” and went on to say, “People still die, they get married, retire — all of this generates demand. And only a fraction of that demand is being met in today’s market.”

A large amount of the homes that sold in September were foreclosures along with short sales in which the bank sold the home for less than the mortgage. The figures show that more than half of the homes that sold in California in the month of September were foreclosures or short sales.

The figures showed around 33.8 percent were foreclosures down from the 34.3 percent seen in August and 35.6 percent seen in September 2010. Reports showed 18.7 percent were short sales, which is up from the figure seen in August of 17.5 percent and 15.6 seen in September of 2010.

Home sales in southern California were up 0.3 percent from September 2010 but were down from the 7.7 percent seen in August of 2011 bringing the figure to 18,149. The median price for southern California fell 5.2 percent from 201o to $280,000 and only up 0.4 percent over the August figures.

The Bay Area saw home sales increase 6.6 percent from 2010 but down from the figure seen in August to 6,749. The median price for the area decreased 7.6 percent from 2010 and was also down from the month of August to 365,000.

 

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