Home sales in The Golden State have not exactly been, well, golden to start off 2016. In fact, January through April’s home sales were down 4.5 percent annually to 117,235 in California, the lowest level for that time period since 2008, HousingWire reports.
April witnessed single-family and condominium sales totaling 35,978, which was a 5.8 percent increase from march, but an 8.3 percent year-over-year decrease. This April was the lowest sales volume for the month since 2011.
What have continued to rise in California, however, are home prices. From March to April, median home prices rose 5.5 percent from $410,000 to $432,500. Part of the problem is the low inventory that seems to be in constant battle with home prices as bidding wars continue to drive up prices making it nearly impossible for some prospective buyers to find a home.
Building permits have increased in the state and are approaching their highest levels since 2007, but the new inventory stemming from these permits will not arrive until 2017 or 2018 at the earliest, which is no help to this spring selling season, one that was expected to be very busy, but is instead lagging behind projections.
The largest price appreciations in the state were in Northern California. Of the 26 largest counties, Santa Clara (16 percent), Merced (13.9 percent), Sonoma (13.7 percent), Monterey (13.4 percent), and Alameda 911.6 percent) saw the largest yearly increases.
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