San Diego County pending home sales rose 12.3 percent in April from year-ago levels as completed sales nationally increased nearly as much.
The chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, Lawrence Yun, interpreted the results as indicative of demand extending beyond the investor community looking for bargains in the still-depressed housing market.
"A return of normal home buying for occupancy is helping home sales across all price points, and now the recovery appears to be extending to home prices," Yun said.
The San Diego Association of Realtors said there were 5,697 pending sales as of Tuesday, up slightly from 5,654 a month ago and up 12.3 percent from 5,075 a year ago.
That varied slightly from the statewide pending-sales index trend in April. The index declined from 138.9 in March to 128 in April but still was ahead of the year-ago figure of 114.4.
"Inventory constraints could be a contributing factor to lower pending sales," said LeFrancis Arnold, president of the California Association of Realtors.
"The tight inventory we've been experiencing in the distressed market over the past several months is now spreading to equity properties, essentially affecting the supply conditions of both the distressed and nondistressed markets."
The association's breakdown of distressed single-family-home sales shows a downward slide both locally and statewide. Distressed properties includes those sold after foreclosure or as short-sales -- properties sold for less than their outstanding mortgage balance.
- San Diego: Distressed single-family homes comprised 27 percent of the market in April 2011, 26 percent in March and 23 percent last month, the lowest of any county in the state report.
- California: The comparable figures were 48 percent, 45 percent and 42 percent, respectively. The highest distress last month was 67 percent in both Madera and Mendocino counties. Orange County's distress level was 33 percent; Riverside, 56 percent; and Los Angeles, 44 percent.
The national sales figures were reported by region, not metro area. The national median was reported at $177,400 for all housing types, up 10.1 percent from year-ago levels.
According to DataQuick, the San Diego-based real estate data firm, San Diego's April median was $329,500, up 2.4 percent from April 2011.
Sales nationally, reported on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, totaled 4.62 million, up 10 percent from April 2011.
For San Diego, the nonadjusted monthly sales count last month was 3,559, up 8.6 percent from April 2011.
courtesy of: http://www.utsandiego.com
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