Santa Clarita Condominium Sales Rise 6% from a year ago
A total of 101 condominium changed owners in the Santa Clarita Valley during October, an increase of 6.3 percent from a year ago and 5.2 percent ahead of September, The Southland Regional Association of REALTORS® reported on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
Buyers seeking an affordable entry into the housing market fueled condominium sales through the year with the annual tally likely to be equal to 2016.
REALTORS® also assisted 195 single-family home sales last month. That was down 3.9 percent from a year ago and off 10.1 percent from September. There’s a chance 2017 homes sales may exceed 2016.
“The closing months of each year often see an increase in real estate activity,” said Marty Kovacs, chairman of the Santa Clarita Valley Division of the Southland Regional Association of REALTORS® .
“In addition to the ill-effects of today’s very tight inventory,” Kovacs said, “the tax reform proposals coming out of Washington, D.C., which appear to be very bad for housing in California and other high-cost states, may make some sellers and buyers hesitate, putting another damper on the market.”
The Association reported 480 active listings throughout Santa Clarita, down 16.8 percent from a year ago. That represents a 1.6-month supply at the current pace of sales, well below the ten-year average monthly listing of a 4.3-month backlog.
Santa Clarita has seen 12 consecutive months with the active inventory lower than the prior year, though most of the months since February 2016 have posted negative numbers.
“The shortage of property for sale is bad news all around, yet especially for entry-level buyers,” said Tim Johnson, the Association’s chief executive officer. “That’s where the inventory is the tightest and those are the families least able to cope with the rising prices and multiple offers triggered by the inventory shortage.”
The median price of homes that changed owners was $580,000, up 5.8 percent from 12 months ago, yet off 0.9 percent from this September.
Even with frequent double-digit price increases the single-family home median price has yet to break the record of last decade. The October median was 9.8 percent below the record of $643,000 set in April 2006. The closest median price since that record was June’s median price of $586,000.
The median price of condominiums sold in October of $345,500 was up 8.4 percent from October 2016, yet down 1.5 percent from this September. The October median was 10.7 percent below the record high of $397,000 established in January 2006. The high point since the recovery of the housing market came with the $370,000 median of this May and again in June.
Of the combined residential sales total of 296 sales, 0.3 percent, were foreclosure-related transaction — one condo sale and zero single-family homes. REALTORS® reported a total of four short sales with all of them being single-family homes, for a 1.4 percent market share.
Standard sales, involving traditional buyers and sellers, totaled 287 transactions or 97.0 percent of the October market.
The Southland Regional Association of REALTORS® is a local trade association with more than 9,800 members serving the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys. SRAR is one of the largest local associations in the nation.
Darlene Alonzo
Realtor®
JohnHart Real Estate
661-713-4341
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