LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Association of Realtors’ latest report on home sales shows that sales are once again on the rise, yet significantly down in number from this time last year.
Over the month of March, a total of 80 single family homes were sold through the multiple listing service, compared to 51 in February and 130 sold during the same time last year.
These include traditionally built “stick-built” houses as well as manufactured homes on land.
There were 17 sales of mobile homes in parks, compared to five in February and 10 sold during the same time period last year, and 27 sales of bare land (lots and acreage) sales, compared to 18 in February and with or 68 during the same time last year.
There are 292 stick-built and manufactured homes on the market currently, compared to 269 in February.
If the rate of sales stays the same at 51 homes sold per month, there are currently 3.6 months of inventory on the market at the moment compared to 5.2 months of inventory a month ago in January.
That means that if no new homes are brought to the market for sale, in 3.6 months all of these homes would be sold and there would be none available.
Less than six months of inventory is generally considered to be a “sellers’ market” while more than six months of inventory is often called a “buyers’ market.
There was a surge of buyer activity in January that is driving these higher home sales numbers, but the market seems to be slowing again based on interviews with a number of agents.
Total percentage of homes bought for all cash in February was 31%, compared to 47% for February, and 28% for this same time last year.
Of those, 44% were financed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (“conventional loans”) compared to 24% for February and 37% for the same time last year and.
The report said 11% were financed by FHA, compared to 15% for February and 15% for this time last year; 6% were financed by the VA or CalVet, compared to 4% for February and 3% for this time last year; 7% had other financing such as private loans, USDA, or seller financed notes, up from 6% in February 1% in a year-over comparison.
The homes in March were selling at an average of 97% of the asking price at the time the property went under contract, but an average of 90% when compared to the original asking price when the property first came on the market.
This is roughly the same as the prior month, but less than a year ago at this time, when homes were selling at 100% of the asking price.
The median time on the market for March was 50 days, compared to 99 days for last month and 36 days for this time last year.
The median sale price of a single family home in Lake County in March was $330,500, which is higher than the $235,000 for the previous month and higher than the median sale price of $321,000 during this time period last year.
This would indicate that last month the higher priced homes were selling in greater numbers to bring the median sale price higher.
In March, 39% of homes sold had seller concessions for an average concession of $8,126; in February, 30% of homes had seller concessions for an average concession of 10,085 and a year ago 31% of homes sold had an average seller concession of $6,847.
Number of homes selling and median prices rise in March
- LAKE COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
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