Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Median Home Price Rises in San Diego County

The median home price in San Diego County rose to $290,000 last month, according to information from MDA DataQuick.

According to a San Diego Union-Tribune story right here, it was the third straight month that the median has either increased or stayed the same, which has some observers thinking the market has bottomed out.

The median home price in the county peaked at $517,500 in late 2005. That seems incomprehensible now.

We'll have to watch the unemployment rate, the number of short sales and foreclosures in the pipeline and the availability of loans over the next few months to get an idea of whether this upward trend continues.

A couple of other interesting notes in the Union-Tribune story:

— Inventory has decreased. Active listings were at 13,354 yesterday, which is down nearly 500 from last month.

— The number of foreclosure sales was down to 47 percent (it was at 55 percent in January) among all resales. This bears watching over the next couple of months because there is some concern of a backlog of foreclosures coming to the market.

— There is a proposal to increase the fund for the $10,000 state tax credit for buying a new home. The fund is $100 million and they're hoping to increase it to $300 million to keep the program going. It may be tough to find the money, however, if voters reject today's ballot propositions (which appears likely). I haven't seen how much money is left in the fund, but it isn't expected to last past this year.

— Southern California is expected to be one of the first regions to recover from the housing downturn because it was the first area to suffer in the downturn.

Contact Kirk Kenney: 619.920.2195 or kirkkenney@coldwellbanker.com

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Homes Sales Way Up, But Median Price Unchanged

A story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune right here reported that while the median price of a home in the county remained unchanged from February to March, home sales rose by 43 percent (to 3,020) over a year ago.

The median price remained at $285,000. According to the story, the median price is down 28 percent in the past year and 45 percent from its highest point.

The Union-Tribune also ran a chart on home sales in the county in March.

Contact Kirk Kenney: 619.920.2195 or kirkkenney@coldwellbanker.com

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Median Home Price Rises Slightly

The median price of a home in the county rose by $5,000 — to $285,000 — in February, the first increase in 10 months, according to this story today in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

That's still nearly one-third lower than the median price of a year ago.

Inventory remained substantial, according to the San Diego Association of Realtors, with nearly 15,000 listings. That's more than four times as many listings as there were about five years ago, when the market was heading for its peak.

It's too soon to draw a conclusion from the rise in median price. Obviously, supply is much larger than demand at this point. The economy — and whether it leads to higher unemployment — and availability of financing are two factors in where we're headed.

Contact Kirk Kenney: 619.920.2195 or kirkkenney@coldwellbanker.com

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Help for first-time home buyers

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 signed by President Obama last week included language that extends the $8,000 first-time buyers credit to homes purchased to Dec. 1 of this year.

First-time buyers are considered anyone who has not owned a home for the past three years.

The home purchased must be owner-occupied.

Another condition is that the buyer must have an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less if the buyer is single and $150,000 or less for married buyers. Partial credits may be given for some buyers who exceed these limits.

Contact Kirk Kenney: 619.920.2195 or kirkkenney@coldwellbanker.com

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Obama Unveils Housing Plan

President Obama's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan was revealed today.

According to the plan, $75 billion will be made available for up to nine million homeowners at risk of losing their homes and/or providing refinancing options to make their payments more affordable.

The White House put a Q&A about the plan on its blog right here.

It's way too early to know how this will all play out but the initial reaction was favorable.

Contact Kirk Kenney: 619.920.2195 or kirkkenney@coldwellbanker.com