December Home Sales in Southern California Lowest in 4 Years
Today, Dataquick, released information regarding home sales in Southern California. Prices are easing back and the sales volume is the lowest in 4 years. Here are some area highlights:
These were all down:
Los Angles was down 13.6% from Dec. 04
Orange County was down 9.2% from Dec. 04
San Diego was down 11.3% from Dec. 04
Ventura was down 13.3% from Dec. 04
Bucking the trend was:
San Bernardino up 5.7%
Riverside up 16.5%
Overall Southern California was down 4.5%
These were all down:
Los Angles was down 13.6% from Dec. 04
Orange County was down 9.2% from Dec. 04
San Diego was down 11.3% from Dec. 04
Ventura was down 13.3% from Dec. 04
Bucking the trend was:
San Bernardino up 5.7%
Riverside up 16.5%
Overall Southern California was down 4.5%
2 Comments:
My fiance and I work our asses off here in southern California. We actually started looking to buy a place when the frenzy started, but we lost out at new condo auctions and later pulled out of an offer on a place we really couldn't afford. The funny thing is, we make $150,000 a year! I saw a statistic of what the top 5% income earners make (on average) in Orange County, CA. It is $202,000 a year. Being that we are only 50,000 away, I figured that we should be able to get into something. We rent for $1,700 a month; however, we would need to put up $3,400+ a month to actually buy our current place. It doesn't make much sense to me, but hey, I didn't invest in real estate. Instead, I was going to school and got a degree - little good that did... I see that it was probably one of the worst decisions I've made thus far. I remember thinking in my junior year that I should sell real estate on the weekends, but I figured I would reap the benefits of staying in school. Wrong again! As it stands, my fiance and I will be getting married this June. We plan on either leaving California in the fall of 2006 or in the summer of 2007 - taking it one day at a time. Even if house prices were to come down to realistic levels, I wouldn't want to live here. My fiance and I grew up in so cal, but it really sucks these days. I don't know if it has changed, or if it was always like this. I guess I never saw it before, but now I do... We know that we definitely don't want to raise a family here. So with that being said, I don't care what happens to the housing market. There are a lot of other housing markets where we can get a 5 bedroom house for what we're paying in rent right now! The other sad thing is that I think the people who save their money will get burned once again. The Federal Reserve and Congress are taking this country down a road to financial ruin. In the end, 60 to 80% of population will be in debt and have nothing. Reforms will take place, or our currency will be worth nothing - the people who have sacraficed and continue to sacrafice will be punished in the end. You might as well join the crowd, because you won't get rewarded for showing restraint. My fiance and I don't have any credit card debt; I have a 780 credit score and she has a 750 credit score - none of this will matter eventually. We will be punished for not joining the profligate Americans!!!
you are very smart to think this through like you have - go to a place where you can own a peice of land and a house - like Austin TX or San Antonio - another area Spokane WA, Boise ID, these type of places have great employment bases and property is affordable - Real Estate is somewhat cylical - I came to San Diego in 94 and bought 2 condos - the market then was down about 40% from its highs in the late 80's - I would never be able to by at these prices today - so go and get into an area that will provide a great place to live and some equity potential - and then if you want to come back to So-Cal when you have built the equity somewhere else - you may be lucky and get into a buyers market - timing is everything - also, your smart to have gotten your degree - just think if you bought in So Cal now, the 1700 you are paying for rent would not even cover the monthly interest on your loan - you have to look at the bright side - opportunity is out there!
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