California New-Home Market Down in April, CBIA Announces
SACRAMENTO, CA – June 17, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The pace of home sales at California new-home communities continued to be notably 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 32 percent below April 2009. During April, 2,203 new homes and condominiums were sold in the subdivisions tracked by Costa Mesa-based HWMI, compared to 3,218 a year earlier. Sales of single-family homes were down by 34 percent, while sales of townhomes and “plexes” – duplexes, triplexes, etc. – were off by 33 percent and sales of condominiums were 22 percent lower than a year ago.
While sales were still down, the base price of units sold was a bit higher than a year ago, and slightly higher than in March. Compared with the same period last year, the median base price of homes sold was 2 percent higher than a year ago.
Non-seasonally adjusted total new-home sales were nearly unchanged from last month, when more typically there would be a small drop between the two months as March tends to be the strongest sales month of the year.
Jonathan Dienhart, Director of Published Research for HWMI, noted the figures for April were little changed from March and don’t provide a lot of basis for short-term optimism.
“With the federal tax credit expiring in April and persistently high unemployment throughout most of the state, we could be in for a rough summer,” said Dienhart. “Some areas will fare better than others, however. The long recovery process will be uneven, with the coastal areas faring better than the inland areas where there are still bigger problems with oversupply.”
Liz Snow, CBIA’s President and CEO, added that the new-home sales numbers should brighten up a bit in May with the implementation of the state tax credit for homebuyers.
“While much attention has been focused on the federal tax credit and its expiration, we want to remind buyers that a state credit is still available,” said Snow. “With the state credit having gone into effect in May, we hope to see some pick-up in new-home sales once the May numbers are released.”
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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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Media Contact:
Michael Castillo
Communications Manager
(916) 443-7933 ext. 346
mcastillo (at) cbia (dot) org
