Southern California Home Prices Fall 3.7% on Distressed Deals
February 16, 2012, 12:45 PM ESTBy Dan Levy
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Home values in Southern California declined last month to close to the market bottom as lenders agreed to a record share of short sales, or transactions in which the price is less than the amount owed, DataQuick said.
The median paid for houses and condominiums was $260,000 in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties, down 3.7 percent from $270,000 in December and January 2011, and the lowest since May 2009, the San Diego-based data firm said today in a statement. Values were pulled down by a lack of mortgage credit and distressed deals that made up more than half of all purchases, the company said.
“What we can determine is that the mortgage market remains dysfunctional,” John Walsh, DataQuick president, said in the statement. “It will be interesting to see how a potential surge of refinance activity plays into the purchase market once the administration’s new guidelines are implemented.”
President Barack Obama said Feb. 1 that he’ll ask Congress for legislation that will help more homeowners refinance into lower-rate loans, even if they owe more than their properties are worth.
Sales in Southern California totaled 14,523 in January, down almost 25 percent from the previous month and up 0.4 percent from a year earlier. A “sharp” decline in purchases from December is normal, DataQuick said. Foreclosures accounted for 33 percent of deals, while short sales were an estimated 21 percent, the most in DataQuick records dating to 1988.
--Editors: Christine Maurus, Daniel Taub
-0- Feb/15/2012 18:34 GMT
-0- Feb/15/2012 18:43 GMT
To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Levy in San Francisco at dlevy13@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net
