Continued Slow For Southland Home Sales, Commercial Hot

From DataQuick: Continued slow for Southland home sales
DataQuick says ...
• Last month was the slowest May for Southern California home sales in 12 years.
• The median price paid for a SoCal home in May was $505,000, matching record high set in March and April.

• Quote: "Sales have been dropping now for the last 20 months. The first part of that was just coming off the frenzy of 2004 and 2005 and didn't put that much downward pressure on prices. The sales declines of the last half year, though, will have more of an effect on prices. It's remarkable they haven't come down more than they have," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

Last month, they wrote:
Foreclosure activity is rising but is still within the normal range in most areas. But now they note:
Foreclosure activity is high, although foreclosure properties are not yet a drag home on home values in most markets. Rising inventories, high foreclosure activity, and falling sales ... it's not hard to connect the dots on what will happen to prices.

Home sales drop in numbers, price
from the Business Journal of Phoenix, reports that there were 5,220 homes sold in Maricopa County in May, about half the number sold in 2005, according to Arizona State University's Realty Studies Department. Year-to-date, about 24,000 homes have been sold. That's down 20 percent from last year and about half the number from 2005. The median home price also dropped to $262,000 in May, down $3,000 from the same time last year. "The general expectation is that the 2007 resale housing market should be a good year, but nowhere near the records," said Jay Butler, director of Realty Studies at ASU. In May, 16 percent of all recorded sales were for homes priced from $125,000 to $199,999, 42 percent were for homes in the $200,000 to $299,999 range and 39 percent were for homes priced at more than $300,000. Last year, the median prices trended higher across the board.

Existing home sales show slight bump in dragging market
from the East Valley Tribune, also reports on the recent sales and price report from ASU. It adds that the market is dealing with a huge overhang of housing inventory, which hit record highs in recent months-- soaring to more than 50,000. Many are investment properties. The slump has hit some areas harder than others. Those closer to freeways and jobs are holding steady, while prices in outlying areas continue to drop. Sellers in Pinal County and the West Valley are struggling to compete with builders offering larger homes, landscaping and other incentives at resale prices, said Jay Butler, director of Realty Studies at ASU. High energy prices and traffic congestion are also impacting sales, he said.

Most Resilient U.S. Real Estate Markets
"Other Bounce Backs: Like Tampa, Phoenix is similarly afflicted by high investor share (26.1%) and it has a vacancy rate over 3%. Good affordability rates and a surging job market suggest that once Phoenix bottoms out, price growth will be strong. Moody's projection model has Phoenix reaching its price trough in the fourth quarter of 2008 and then growing by 7.7% the following year."

Bay Area home sales drop, prices up
Bay Area homes continued to sell at their slowest pace in 12 years last month, as the median sales price edged up to a new peak. . . full story

Commercial Sector in Los Angeles Boosted by Ports, Entertainment the WSJ,Reports that for many metro commercial landlords, the business climate reads like a script for a summer blockbuster.

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