According to a recent news release from the California Association of Realtors® (CAR), California’s housing market continued its momentum as seasonally adjusted, existing home sales rose both month to month and year-to-year in March. As well, the statewide California median price climbed to an eight-month high. Some highlights:

·         Existing, single-family home sales in California totaled 423,990 units in March on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (an increase of 0.3% from February and 1.6% year-over-year). This compares to detached home sales (12 month moving average) of 537 units in March and attached home sales of 297 units in the Coachella valley; 

·         March’s California statewide median home price was $564,830 (up 8.1% from February and 8.9% year-over-year). This compares to a March detached home median price of $392,000 and an attached home median price of $269,000 here in the Coachella Valley; 

·         After a double-digit, year-over-year price surge in February, statewide condo/townhome prices rose a solid 8.4 percent from a year ago. The California condo/townhome median price set a new record price high in March reaching $460,500 (up 1.3 percent from the revised $454,500 registered in February); 

·         The average statewide price per square foot for an existing, single-family home statewide was $276 in March, up from $255 in March 2017; 

·         Peak median prices were reached in March in Alameda County ($955,000), Marin County ($1,392,500), San Mateo County ($1,515,000), Santa Clara County ($1,454,500), San Diego County ($625,400), and Orange County ($824,400); 

·         The Southern California market continued its downward trend with a year-over-year decline in sales of 6.4 percent. Sales were down the most in San Diego (-10.4%) and Los Angeles (-7.6%) counties; 

·         Sales of homes priced under $200,000 declined 32 percent on an annual basis, while homes priced $2 million and higher increased by 33 percent. CAR noted that supply constraints continued to limit sales in market segments priced below $500,000; 

·         Home prices in the Bay Area remained robust in March as the region’s median price increased 18.1 percent from a revised $830,000 last March to $980,000 in March 2018; 

·         Home prices in most Southern California counties also grew robustly; median home prices increased by at least 6 percent on an annual basis, in all counties except Ventura, which inched up by 1.8 percent. Los Angeles prices increased the most at 13.6 percent and continued to surge by double-digits for the fourth straight month. San Diego and Orange County followed with a 9.5 percent and 8.5 percent annual increase, respectively, marking new record high median prices for the two counties; 

·         The statewide unsold inventory index dipped below the 3-month benchmark for the first time since the end of 2017, registering 2.9 months in March compared with 3.0 months in March 2017. This compares to an unsold inventory of 4.5 months in the Coachella Valley; 

·         The California statewide median number of days it took to sell a California single-family home remained low at 16 days in March compared with 23 days in March 2017. In comparison, the median number of days to sell a home in the Coachella Valley stood at 66 days in March; and 

·         Mortgage rates have been on the rise since breaking the 4.0 percent barrier in February. The 30-year, fixed-mortgage interest rates averaged 4.44 percent in March, up from 4.33 percent in February and from 4.20 percent in March 2017, according to Freddie Mac. The five-year, adjustable mortgage interest rate also edged higher in March to an average of 3.65 percent from 3.60 percent in February and from 3.21 percent in March 2017.

To read the original news release from the California Association of Realtors®, please visit: https://www.car.org/aboutus/mediacenter/newsreleases/2018releases/march2018homesales