Real Estate Update – California, April 2015

California, May 19,2015 – California single-family home and condominium sales were up 9.0 percent in April 2015. April sales were 37,009 up from 33,946 in March. The increase in sales volume was predominantly due to the 9.2 percent gain in non-distressed property sales that accounted for 83.0 percent of total sales.

The median price of a California home was $405,000 in April, a gain of $12,000, or 3.1 percent from $393,000 in March. For the month, median prices rose in 19 of California’s largest 26 counties. The counties that saw the biggest median price increases were Contra Costa (+5.15 percent), Santa Cruz (+6.72 percent), and San Francisco (+11.1 percent).

On a year-over-year basis, the median price of a California home was up 8.0 percent from $375,000 in April 2014. Four of California’s largest counties experienced double digit year-over-year price increases. Those counties were San Francisco (+23.6 percent), San Luis Obispo (+15.7 percent), San Mateo (+15.0 percent) and Santa Cruz (+14.6 percent).

Home Sales – Single-family residence and condominium sales by month from 2007 to current divided into distressed and non-distressed sales. Distressed sales are the sum of short sales, where the home is sold for less than the amount owed, and REO sales, where banks resell homes that they took ownership of after foreclosure. All other sales are considered non-distressed.

Year-over-Year Home Sales Year-over-Year Home Sales – Single-family residences and condominiums sold during the same month for the current year and prior years divided into distressed and non-distressed sales.

Cash Sales – The blue bars (right axis) illustrate cash sales of single-family residences and condominiums by month. The red line (left axis) illustrates cash sales as a percentage of total sales by month.

Flipping – The number of single-family residences and condominiums resold within six months.

To read a full report by By Madeline Schnapp go to Property Radar report.