State home sales drop

Sales of existing single-family homes in California totaled 254,740 in August, down 5.3 percent from July and down 19 percent from August 2022, according to data released Monday.

Statewide, the median home price last month was $859,800, up 3.3 percent from July and a three percent increase year-over-year, the California Association of Realtors reported.

During the first eight months of the year, home sales were down slightly more than 29 percent compared with the first eight months of 2022, according to the Los Angeles-based trade association.

Home sales reached a seven-month low in August because of rising interest rates and a smaller housing inventory, said Jordan Levine, the association’s senior vice president and chief economist.

“Macroeconomic fundamentals are expected to soften starting in the last quarter of this year,” Levine said in a statement. “Mortgage rates should begin to ease gradually in the next couple of months, and provide a much-needed boost to both the supply and the demand sides of the housing market.”

In the Inland Empire, the median price of a single-family home last month was $569,990, down slightly month-over-month and year-over-year. Sales were up 10.8 percent from July but were down 15.7 percent from August 2022, the association reported.

All sales figures are annualized, meaning they represent what would be the total number of homes sold in 2023 if sales kept their August pace for the rest of the year.