State home sales stay down

Higher interest rates continued to disrupt California’s housing market in October, according to data released on Nov. 20.

Sales of existing single-family homes totaled 241,770 in October, down only 0.3 percent from September and down nearly 12 percent year-over, the California Association of Realtors reported.

Those numbers take into account seasonal factors that affect home sales. They’re also annualized, meaning they show what home sales would be in 2023 if sales maintained their October pace throughout the year.

The median price of a single-family home in October was $840,360, down 0.4 percent from September but up 5.3 percent from October 2022.

Sales dropped 27.2 percent during the first 10 months of the year compared with the first 10 months of last year, the association reported.

Despite some rough spots, California’s housing market might be moving in the right direction.

“Mortgage rates have been coming down in recent weeks,” said Jordan Levine, the association’s chief economist, in the statement. “If inflation continues to cool, we could see more improvement in mortgage rates than the Federal Reserve is projecting for next year.

“That would alleviate some pressure on both the buy and sell sides of the housing market in 2024.”

Sales of existing single-family homes stayed below 250,000 units for the second straight month in October, while the year-over-year decline was the 28th consecutive month of that trend. However, last month’s sales drop was the lowest annual decline of the last four months, the association reported.