Will California Real Estate Escapes Median Home Price Drop?

Today the NAR released it's existing home sales data and nationally prices actually dropped 1.7% from the same month last year. Surprisingly California real estate actually was up a minor 1.6%. The biggest drop happened in the Northeast.

For August, California home sales have actually plunged 30.1% according the the California Assn. of REALTORS, which was the biggest year-over-year drop since August 1982.

As everyone already knows, California has lots of adjustable rate mortgages, many of which will be adjusting in the upcoming year. Will this have a significant effect and possibly cause an uptick in foreclosures which will drag down home prices?

Can the California continue to escape an actual down turn in actual prices or are we just setting up for a serious accident?

Continued Slowing In Southern California Real Estate Markets

Los Angeles ABC7.com reported that the southern California real estate markets are still slowing down. Here are some key highlights:

San Diego County Real Estate
- Home prices declined 2.2 percent

- 32 percent decline in sales compared to a year ago.

Los Angeles County Real Estate

- home prices rose in August at the lowest annual rate in six years (4%)

- 21 percent drop in total homes sold

According to the article, a San Diego professor thinks it may bottom out by 2007 and start to recover by 2008. What do you think?

160% Increase in California Real Estate Foreclosures

According to an article in CNN, foreclosures are spiking everywhere. Nationally they are up 53% over last year but for us in California, the article states that there was a 160% increase in July 2006 vs. July 2005.

Can this be an indicator of a famous "bubble" or just a hiccup?

Remember, the NAR's July Existing Home Sales Report had this to say about the West...

Existing-home sales in the West dropped 6.4 percent to an annual pace of 1.32 million in July, and were 18.0 percent lower than a year earlier. The median price in the West was $348,000, down 0.3 percent from July 2005.

Will the California real estate market weather the impending storm or will this be a repeat of 89-91?

Sign of the Times... Mass Foreclosed-Home Auction

Hudson & Marshall a real estate auction company is doing a large scale auction of 250 foreclosure homes in Michigan, which had a 25% spike in foreclosure rates.

Do you think this will happen in California?