While lower on a year-to-year basis, January’s median home price was the
highest reported since September.
Lenny Jones, a real estate agent and broker at Jones Goodell & Associates
in Arroyo Grande, said the January figures are not surprising given that the
"market is still in a correction period." Not only are sales and
prices declining, but it’s taking longer for houses to sell. The average
number of days a home is on the market is 117, up from 84 at this time last
year, Jones said.
home market correction "It all depends on who you talk to ... people
have different opinions,’’ he said. "But I believe we will see a
continued decrease in the number of sales and a continued decline in home
values. We don’t know how much. But in order for sellers to sell their houses,
they will keep adjusting their home values downward.’’
Statewide, home sales activity was slightly lower in January, said Colleen
Badagliacco, president of the California Association of Realtors. In California,
sales decreased 12.6 percent in January, compared with the same period a year
ago. The median price of an existing home increased 1.9 percent.
"On a regional basis, sales fell an average of 13 percent, while median
prices declined in all areas except Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and
Riverside/San Bernardino,’’ she said.
California Association of Realtors figures are one gauge of sales and median
price activity in the county. According to DataQuick, a real estate research
firm that tracks sales and median price of single-family homes and condominiums,
home sales in the county dipped 15.4 percent last month compared with the
previous year. The firm reported a median home price last month of $537,500,
down 1.7 percent from January 2006.
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“There’s so much inventory out there that the buyer can pick and choose,” said Susan Sirles Fidler, a Realtor at Re/Max 10, Oak Lawn. But she cautioned, “The stuff that’s almost free is almost free because it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg to put it back together. It’s not buyer beware as much as buyer be smart.”
