O.C. Home Prices, Sales Decline in 'Spooked' Market

Home sales and home prices in Orange County dropped 2.8 percent in July, compared to the same month a year ago, a real estate information service announced today.

A total of 2,455 homes changed hands locally last month, compared to 2,547 in July 2010, according to La Jolla-based MDA DataQuick. The median price of a home in Orange County in July was $437,500, down from $450,000 in July 2010.

In Los Angeles County, 6,193 homes were sold in July, down 4.9 percent from July 2010, when 6,515 were sold. The median home price was $320,000 last month, down 5.6 percent from the median of $339,000 in July 2010.

A total of 18,090 new and resale houses and condos sold in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura and San Bernardino and counties in July, according to DataQuick. That was down 11.9 percent from 20,532 in June, and down 4.5 percent from 18,946 in July 2010.

"The latest sales figures look a bit worse than they really are, given
this July was a fairly short month, but they still suggest some potential
homebuyers got spooked,'' DataQuick President John Walsh said.

"Reports on the economy became increasingly downbeat and, no doubt, some people fretted over the possibility the country would default on its obligations,'' Walsh said.

"If there's a shred of good news in the data, it's that last month's sales weren't much worse than a year earlier," he said. "For the first time in many months, we get an apples-to-apples comparison to year-ago sales, given that in July 2010 the market lost its crutch—federal homebuyer tax credits."

Short Sales, Foreclosures

Distressed property sales continued to account for around half of the Southland resale market in July. Roughly one out of three homes resold was a foreclosure, while close to one in five was a "short sale."

Foreclosure sales made up 32.5 percent of the Southland resale market in July, down from 32.9 percent in June and 34.2 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 56.7 percent in February 2009, according to DataQuick.

Short sales, where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property, made up an estimated 17.3 percent of Southland resales last month. That was down from 17.7 percent in June and 19.4 percent a year ago. Two years ago the estimate was 14.3 percent, according to DataQuick.

—City News Service and Dataquick