JULY HOME SALES CLIMB TO HIGHEST LEVEL IN NEARLY THREE YEARS AS PRICES REMAIN NEAR RECENT HIGH

Sustained job and income growth gave home buyers the confidence in July to jump into the California housing market, pushing home sales to their highest level in nearly three years, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.).

Making sense of the story

  • Home sales have risen year over year for six straight months.
  • Home sales remained above the 400,000 mark in July for the fourth consecutive month and rose to highest level since October 2012. Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 449,530 units in July.
  • The July figure was up 2.7 percent from the revised 437,680 level in June and 12.7 percent compared with home sales in July 2014 of a revised 398,980.
  • The year-to-year change was the highest since July 2009 and significantly higher than the 6-month average increase of 6 percent observed from January 2015-June 2015.
  • C.A.R. President Chris Kutzkey commented, “While July home sales rose at the statewide level, the market is still constrained by low housing affordability and a tight supply in areas where job growth is robust, such as San Francisco and San Jose. Neighboring regions such as Napa, Solano, and Sonoma are experiencing strong sales due to their affordability and proximity to job centers. However, housing affordability could become a bigger issue in these areas if housing demand continues to grow but supply can’t keep pace.”
  • The median price of an existing, single-family detached California home dipped 0.3 percent in July to $488,260 from $489,640 in June.  July’s median price was 5.4 percent higher than the revised $463,330 recorded in July 2014.
  • While sales continued to improve from last year at the state level, the number of active listings dropped modestly from last year. Statewide, active listings increased 3.3 percent from June but dropped 4.5 percent from July a year ago.

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