The summer home buying season in the San Fernando Valley is winding down with some price sizzle and sales fizzle.
That’s according to July market reports from the Van Nuys-based Southland Regional Association of Realtors and the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at Cal State University, Northridge.
“Sales are dismal,” lamented economist William W. Roberts, the center’s director.
Here is what the reports show:
•The Realtors group said the median price of a previously owned house rose 4 percent from a year earlier to $623,000, the highest level IN nine years. And it gained $23,000 from June.
The association tracks the market from Toluca Lake through Calabasas.
But while prices are up, sales are down.
•CSUN’s research center reported that sales of new and previously owned houses and condominiums fell 10 percent from a year ago to 1,556 properties and they were down from 1,565 in June.
The center tracks a market from Glendale through Calabasas.
Both reports show summer sales are sluggish and that this will likely be a tepid year.
Roberts said his records show sales falling year-over-year for the last five months.
And since the buying season began in March, sales have increased from their year-ago level just once, according the Realtor’s report.
Low inventory remains the anchor weighing down the market.
At the end of July the number of houses and condominiums for sale had dropped 7 percent from a year earlier to 1,720, according the Realtors group. That is just a 2.4 month supply at the current sales pace.
“There is just nothing out there,” said Roberts. “It’s not like the early 2000s when people would sell to buy a bigger house. They are remodeling and they seldom move up. And you don’t have an influx of people into the Valley, either.”
Jim Link, the association’s CEO, said that the soft market is not unexpected.
“Not surprisingly, rising prices combined with limited supply and falling affordability translate into fewer sales,” said Link in a statement.
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