The California housing market continues to slow with news that November saw home sales register the lowest annualized pace since October 2007 and the largest year-over-year sales drop in at least the past four decades.
According to the California Association of Realtors, existing, single-family detached home sales across the state were down 13.2 percent on a monthly basis and down 47.7 percent from a year ago. The year-to-year sales decline was the biggest since 1980.
This was the fourth time in the last five months that sales dropped more than 30 percent from the year-ago level. Sales in all price segments dropped more than 40 percent year-over-year, with the $2 million+ price segment falling the most at 47.7percent. The most affordable market (sub-$300,000) experienced the smallest sales drop at 41.4 percent.
“While interest rates are higher than year-ago levels, they have been declining since early November from the recent peak of over 7 percent,” said CAR President Jennifer Branchini. “With home prices cooling and market competition easing in recent months, some qualified buyers who missed out on the hurried market of the last two years are taking advantage of the shift and finding sellers more willing to negotiate than they have been up to this point.”
California’s median home price declined for the third straight month, dropping 3 percent in November to $777,500. November’s price was 0.6 percent lower than the $782,480 recorded in November 2021 and marked the first year-over-year price decline in 30 months.
The November 2022 price was also the lowest since February 2022.
At the regional level, all regions except the Far North recorded year-over-year sales drops of more than 40 percent, with SoCal falling the most at -46.9 percent. That was followed by Central Coast ( down 43.5 percent), the San Francisco Bay Area ( down 43.0 percent) and Central Valley ( down 42.3 percent).
Stay tuned for our regional breakdowns at CaliforniaListings.com and CaliforniaListings.com/NorCal