You may have seen this in yesterday’s UT:
Spring home sales in San Diego County continued to heat up in April, DataQuick figures released Wednesday showed.
The county recorded 3,559 sales last month, the highest home-sale tally for an April since 2006, when 3,974 homes were sold. April’s count is almost 10 percent higher than March’s and 8.6 percent higher than April 2011.
March-to-April sales gains in San Diego County are not uncommon, but the growth this year has bested sales gains in 2011 and 2010.
Prices also rose locally. The median amount paid for a home in San Diego was $329,500, up 2.8 percent from March and up 2.4 percent from a year ago.
The UT reported that sales and prices increased last month. Will it continue?
Here are the April and May detached sales in North San Diego County’s coastal region:
| Year | April Sales | April $/sf | May Sales | May $/sf |
| 2008 | ||||
| 2009 | ||||
| 2010 | ||||
| 2011 | ||||
| 2012 |
Obviously we have two weeks’ worth of closings left in May, but because most escrows close towards the end of the month, it looks like we might be in for a big surge.
All we need are 171 more closings this month to reach 300 sales in May – and there are 184 houses marked contingent, and 481 pendings (with 174 of those marked pending prior to April 15th). And how about that pricing, around $400/sf?
The Freddie Mac survey showed the 30-year FRM averaged 3.79% for the week ending Thursday — the lowest rate ever recorded — inching down from the prior week’s record average of 3.83%. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.61%.
The interest rate change is worth 10% of the monthly payment or purchase price depending on how you want to look at it. I.e. a refinance from 4.61 to 3.79 would save you about 10% on the monthly payment.
Who would have thought 3 something was possible for a 30 year mortgage. I remember when breaking below 5 was unthinkable.
I had dinner on Tuesday with a good friend who has recently bought two homes in San Diego for investment purposes. One home had multiple bids, and he paid about 10K over asking price.
His reason for buying investment property? With money market rates at .01%, he has cash sitting around and doesn’t want to take the risk of stocks. He feels that the rents will bring in 5% to 6% income on cash investment, and offer tax incentives making it worth more than that.
Essentially the Fed is “forcing” people with cash to take risks, either in stocks with dividends, real estate, or gold (which pays nothing).
The rental market is still pretty hot. We visited the new San Diego Navy ship last evening, and was told it arrived here with 200 cars from sailors moving from Mississippi – it, along with its sister ship the Anchorage (coming in December) will add over 1000 new Navy personnel stationed here – they and their families will all need a place to live.
In Redfin, when I choose the “Active” option instead of the “Active + under contract/pending” option, a whole bunch of houses disappear.
I have learned to take Redfin’s “Active + under contract/pending” numbers with a grain of salt.
A house in my hood has been off the market for a couple of months. I know the guy and he confirms he decided to not sell.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Anaheim/131-S-Orange-Hill-Ln-92807/home/4320850
vs
http://www.ziprealty.com/property/131-S-ORANGE-HILL-LN-ANAHEIM-CA-92807/7696657/detail
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/131-S-Orange-Hill-Ln-Anaheim-CA-92807/25411464_zpid/
The Fed has been making people poor since 1913. The US dollar was worth one dollar in 1913, now it’s worth about .03 cents.
Don’t bash gold. I starting buying it in 2002. It’s up about 400-500% since then. It might not “pay nothing”, but it sure does a great job at preserving my wealth and purchasing power.
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Essentially the Fed is “forcing” people with cash to take risks, either in stocks with dividends, real estate, or gold (which pays nothing).