Nov 2012 California Median Home Prices

California median home price experiences highest year-to-year increase since June 2004.

The statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home increased 2.3 percent from October’s $341,370 median price to $349,300 in November. November’s price was up 24.8 percent from a revised $279,910 recorded in November 2011, marking the ninth consecutive month of annual price increases and the fifth consecutive month of double-digit annual gains. The year-to-year percentage increase was the largest since June 2004.

For the overall San Francisco Bay Area, the median price was $588,800, which is 0.7% lower than prior month's $593,080,and 25.9% higher than the same period last year of $467,680.

Other key facts of C.A.R.’s November 2012 resale housing report include:

• California’s housing inventory continued to be constrained in November, with the Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes maintaining its 3.1-months’ level. This is flat compared with the previous month, but down from November 2011, when the index was at 5.3 months. The index indicates the number of months needed to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate. A six- to seven-month supply is considered normal.

• Interest rates dipped further in November, with the 30-year fixed-mortgage interest rate averaging 3.35 percent during November 2012, down from 3.38 percent in October, and down from 3.99 percent in November 2011, according to Freddie Mac. Adjustable-mortgage interest rates also edged down in November, averaging 2.57 percent, down from 2.59 percent in October and down from 2.9 percent in November 2011.

• Homes continued to sell at a faster pace in November, with the median number of days it took to sell a single-family home falling to 37.5 days in November 2012 from 38 days in October and down from a revised 56.6 days for the same period a year ago.

Click here for more analysis and summary of regional sales and price activity, as well as median price in each county. If you are interested in finding out the median price and sales data for a particular neighborhood or city, please send me an email to meimei@calMBArealty.com to let me know.
Read more...