REAL ESTATE NEWS...California housing market continues its upward trajectory

California’s housing market is continuing its upward trajectory, with pending home sales rising for the fifth straight month in April. The last three of those months have shown double-digit gains, according to the California Association of Realtors.

California pending home sales were up 13.6% year over year in April, according to CAR. Pending home sales in the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California and Central Valley regions saw back-to-back, double-digit annual gains.

Meanwhile, California real estate agents responding to CAR’s April Market Pulse survey said they saw more floor calls and all-cash purchases than they had in March. The Market Pulse survey is a monthly online survey of more than 300 California realtors.

BECOME A CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE AGENT...CLICK LOGO TO VIEW OUR LIVE LECTURE SCHOOL

According to the survey, the share of sales closing above the asking price has been on an upward trajectory for the last three months, sparking bidding wars in some markets. More than a third of transactions closed above asking price last month, up from a low of 16% in January. About 41% of homes closed below asking price, while 23% closed at asking price. Homes that did sell above asking price saw an average 10% markup, according to CAR. That’s up from an average of 7.7% in March.

The share of properties receiving multiple offers rose for the fourth straight month, hitting 72% in April. The average number of offers on those properties also rose, rising to 3.6 last month from March’s average of 2.7.

The CAR survey also found that 55% of realtors expect market conditions to improve over the next year.