Home Sales Slow by 32% in Southern California

The pace of home sales across Southern California has hit bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Sales across the Southland in the year leading up to August totaled 271,800 homes, 32-percent less than the previous 12 months, the Los Angeles Daily News reported, citing figures from the California Association of Realtors.

That’s 38 percent below the 33-year average and the slowest 12 months of home purchases since records dating back to January 1990.

The previous all-time low occurred in April 2008 at the dawn of the Great Recession.

High interest rates geared to cool inflation and stubbornly high home prices have put off buyers, according to the Daily News. The median home price of $859,800 last month, the third-highest on record, is up 3 percent in a month and up 3 percent in a year.

Southland buying is off 32 percent, followed by 30 percent slower sales in the Bay Area, Central Valley and Central Coast, with the state’s northernmost counties off 29 percent.

A smaller pool of buyers are vying for fewer homes, as many potential sellers would rather stay put than trade up and be stuck with higher rates.

The association estimates California’s supply of homes to buy is equal to 2.4 months of sales for August.

That’s off 4 percent in a month and down 14 percent in a year — and 58 percent below the 33-year average, according to the newspaper.

The affordability index for the second quarter showed only 16 percent of households across the state could qualify to buy a typical single-family home.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.1 percent for August — up from 6.8 percent in July and 5.2 percent 12 months earlier.

A potential buyer for a nearly 860,000 home with a 20 percent down payment and a loan at 7.1 percent last month had a $4,610 mortgage, up 6 percent in a month and up 25 percent in a year.

Since February 2020, the estimated typical house payment in California has risen 122 percent.

— Dana Bartholomew