03/28/2024

News

Southern California Home Prices Flat, Sales Fall in November

The median sales price for all homes in the six-county region inched up 0.3% from October to $385,000, research firm DataQuick said Monday. While prices are 19.9% higher than last year, they have been roughly flat for five straight months.

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Home Prices in Bay Area Return to Bubble Peaks

Driven by the roaring economic engine of Silicon Valley, home prices in some Bay Area cities have neared or exceeded the record highs reached in last decade’s housing bubble. San Francisco, Palo Alto and other cities flush with cash from Google, Facebook and Apple blew past their prior peaks in recent months and set new records.

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State’s Tenants Burdened More Heavily by Rent

Almost 56 percent of California renters paid more than 30 percent of their gross household income in rent in 2011, more than in any state except for Florida, according to a report issued Monday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

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Home Improvements Will Trigger New Rule on Replacing Plumbing Fixtures in 2014

California homeowners saving up to overhaul that 1980s-era kitchen or build a porch off the family room face an additional cost in the new year: replacing plumbing fixtures throughout the house.

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Increase in LA County Homeless Population Defies US Trend

Los Angeles County’s homeless population rose 15% from 2011 to 2013, to  57,737, a total second only to New York City. By contrast, the number of homeless Americans declined 6% since 2010, to 610,042, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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Rising Home Prices Lift LA-area Homeowners from Negative Equity

At the end of the third quarter, 13.2% of homeowners with a mortgage remained underwater in the L.A. metro region, a decline from 25.9% in the same period last year, according to real estate firm Zillow, which released the data Thursday.

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Foreclosure Starts Sink in California in 3rd Quarter, Near 7-Year Low

New California foreclosure filings tumbled during the third quarter, as a stronger economy continued to heal the housing market.

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Southern California Home Prices Level Off

Southern California home prices stayed flat in August for the second straight month, an indication the market may be normalizing after a period of torrid price hikes.

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Headed Out of California? Housing Costs Not Income Tax Driving Migration to Other States

California has experienced negative domestic migration in recent years. The increase in the number of residents moving out of the Golden State to other places in the United States is often blamed on California’s high personal income taxes. In fact, this was one of the main arguments waged against the recently enacted Proposition 30, which raised the statewide income tax rate as a way to address the state’s fiscal woes. However, data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the perceived connection between out-migrants and the state’s income tax is likely overblown. Statistics on the characteristics of California’s inbound and outbound migrants suggest that the patterns in domestic migration over the past decade are more related to housing costs in the state than to the local income tax structure.

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Industry Intelligence Report: California’s Housing Market Recovery and Home Foreclosure Trends

As the real estate market conƟnues to improve, or, more specifically, as homes conƟnue to appreciate, homeowners with underwater mortgages will reap the benefits. However, naƟonal policies stemming from the federal Dodd-Frank Act may temper growth as the changing standards for what defines a convenƟonal mortgage will make qualifying more difficult. These standards may serve a greater purpose in the long term, but their short-term effects are currently hurƟng potenƟal homebuyers.

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Stricter Mortgage Standards May be Hurting Economy, Report Says

Citing research by Beacon Economics, the California Bankers Association warns that limited access to mortgage credit is hindering the economy.

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Run-up in Mortgage Rates Raises Questions About Housing Recovery

Mortgage rates have zoomed a full percentage point above their recent record lows, raising costs for borrowers and questions about the housing recovery.

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Homeowners Spending Cautiosly as Values Surge

Dean Schefrin bought a home at just the right time. He and his then-fiancee purchased their four-bedroom Thousand Oaks home last August, catching the rising wave of Southern California home prices.

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California Median Housing Price Increases by Most in 33 Years

The median price of a previously owned house in California soared 31.9 percent in May, the largest year-over-year increase in more than three decades as sales of more expensive properties increased and inventory remained tight, a trade group said Monday.

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Vibrant Recovery is Building

During the downturn, new home construction plummeted along with jobs and personal incomes. Today, a major forecast for the Sacramento region suggests these measures of economic health are poised to rise together over the next four years.

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