Southern California Home Sales Lose More Ground

Real estate analysts, on the lookout for signs of recovery in the battered housing market, have trained their gaze on the nation's hardest hit areas like Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California.

The latest data from the Golden State is not exactly encouraging.

In its report for November, MDA DataQuick says sales of homes in Southern California were down 16 percent from November 2009. Analysts, in part, blame the state's double-digit unemployment.

According to the report, more than 16,000 homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, Orange and San Bernadino counties during the month. It's the lowest November total since 2007.

"Fundamentally, home sales remain weak because the job market has been slow to mend and credit policies remain unusually tight, said John Walsh, president of MDA DataQuick.

While the national jobless rate was 9.8 percent last month, California's unemployment rate was north of 12 percent at last report. It reached a record high in March, when the rate topped out at 12.6 percent.

That's affected not only how many homes are selling, but what buyers are willing to pay for them. The median Southern California sales price in November was $287,000, which is up 1.4 percent from October but only 0.7 percent from November a year ago.

November 2009 sales were likely pushed higher by a last rush of buyers hoping to take advantage of the first-time home-buyers' tax credit. The credit was set to expire at the end of November, but was eventually extended to June 2010.

Foreclosure factor

Meanwhile, another real estate data firm, RealtyTrac, reported earlier this month that foreclosures accounted for 25 percent of all home sales in the third quarter, and that California is among the states with the highest number of foreclosure sales.

Foreclosure sales accounted for nearly 40 percent of all sales in California in the third quarter, the third highest percentage nationwide but down from 43 percent of all sales in the previous quarter and nearly 52 percent of all sales in the third quarter of 2009.

California foreclosure sales were down nearly 27 percent from the previous quarter and down 43 percent from the third quarter of 2009. California properties in some stage of foreclosure sold for an average discount of nearly 39 percent.