SACRAMENTO, CA – January 13, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The pace of home sales at California new-home communities was slightly lower than levels seen a year ago, the California Building Industry Association reported today.
The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (HWMI) New-Home Sales and Pricing Report showed that sales in new-home communities of 10 units or more were 4 percent below November 2008, representing a less impressive result than last month’s year-over-year increase, but was nevertheless an improvement from most months in 2009. During November, 1,860 new homes and condominiums were sold in the subdivisions tracked by Costa Mesa-based HWMI, compared to 1,934 in November 2008. Sales of single-family homes were down by 18 percent, while sales of townhomes and “plexes” – duplexes, triplexes, etc. – were up 8 percent and sales of condominiums were 39 percent higher than a year ago thanks to strong sales at projects in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.
Compared with the same period last year, the median base price of homes sold was nearly unchanged, down just 0.3 percent.
Non-seasonally adjusted total new home sales were 19 percent below levels seen last month, which is not an unusual seasonal trend as home purchase activity tends to slow substantially during the holiday season.
Jonathan Dienhart, Director of Published Research for HWMI, noted the figures for November were in line with expectations.
“For a number of months, sales trends have suggested that by the end of 2009 we would reach a point of being essentially flat from a year ago in terms of purchase activity,” said Dienhart. “Between last month’s year-over-year increase and the small drop this month, we have more or less reached that threshold. While that milestone of stabilization is encouraging, it is far from what could be termed a recovery.”
Liz Snow, CBIA’s President and CEO, agreed and added that Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal for another round of homebuyer tax credits included in the proposed state budget was also encouraging.
“Last year’s state tax credit for new-home buyers proved to be effective in reinvigorating dormant housing markets throughout the state, jumpstarting homebuilding, and putting people back to work,” said Snow. “We firmly believe a new round of credits for homebuyers would go a long way towards building on that momentum, and we’re very happy to see the tax credit proposal included in the Governor’s proposed budget as we still have a long way to go before housing truly begins to recover.”
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The California Building Industry Association is a statewide trade association representing thousands of homebuilders, remodelers, subcontractors, architects, engineers, designers, and other industry professionals. More information is available on the Association’s Web site, www.cbia.org.
Hanley Wood Market Intelligence is the housing industry’s leading provider of rich data and consulting services on residential real estate development and new-home construction and is a division of Hanley Wood, LLC, the premier media company serving housing and construction. More information is available on the company’s Web site, www.hanleywood.com/hwmi or by calling 1-800-639-3777.
Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (HWMI) collects data from new for-sale production subdivisions of 10 units or more on a monthly basis. HWMI Net Sales represent sales contracts signed during the period indicated minus any reported cancellations. Median and Average Prices are based upon the minimum asking price of the plans sold during the period and do not include the cost of any lot/view premiums or upgrades. Because this data is collected monthly and based upon sales contracts that represent future closings, HWMI data is the most forward-looking data source available for new home information in the state of California.
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Contact:
Michael Castillo
Communications Manager
(916) 443-7933 ext. 346
mcastillo (at) cbia (dot) org
