Southern California Home Sales Remain Soft in June, According to California Association of Realtors

Southern California Home Sales Remain Soft in June, Despite Lower Interest Rates

LOS ANGELES – Despite lower interest rates, Southern California home sales in June remained soft for the second consecutive month, according to the California Association of Realtors.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage remained above 7% throughout most of May, when most of these sales opened escrow. June’s sales pace dipped 0.8% from the previous month and was down 2.7% from a year ago. This marks the 21st consecutive month that sales have remained below the 300,000-threshold.

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 270,200 in June. The statewide median price also took a step back in June, slipping 0.8% from the previous month to $900,720.

“With interest rates coming down to the lowest levels since February and the availability of homes loosening up further in the last few months, the housing market is gearing up for another run in the second half of the year,” said CAR President Melanie Barker.

The median price in the Los Angeles metro area was slightly lower in June compared to the previous month at $835,000, a 7.7% increase from last year. Orange County saw its median home price increase 1.9% from May to $1.45 million in June, 15.1% higher than the same month last year.

In Southern California, the lowest median price was in Imperial County at $385,000, a 4.9% decrease from May. The median number of days it took to sell a California single-family home was 18 days in June, three days more than June of last year.

Despite the soft sales in June, CAR remains optimistic that the housing market could see a pickup in momentum in the second half of the year if interest rates continue to decline.