Monday, July 09, 2007

Real Estate News for Monday, July 9th, 2007

Real estate slowdown to worsen, economist says. It's been a year and a half of painful "adjustment" in the housing market -- slowing sales and sliding sales prices following four boom years -- and there's still more to come, the state Realtors group's chief economist told Central Valley agents and brokers today. State sales of existing houses the first five months of this year are down 18.7 percent from the same period last year, said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. "And it's getting worse," she added. "So this market, unfortunately, has not bottomed out yet. We're moving toward it, but we're not there yet." Still, the economy is doing OK, though not great, she said, and the long-term outlook looks good for recovery to a stronger housing market. Click here to read more.

3 Out of 1000 Owners Have Lost Their Homes This Year. According to ForeclosureS.com, 3 out of every 1,000 homeowners in the United States lost their homes to foreclosure in the first half of the year. Those numbers are up 41 percent compared to the same period last year. These per capita numbers translate to almost a quarter-million residential properties (247,907) that ended up in the hands of banks or lenders this year because homeowners could not get their mortgage default problems solved. Per capita reflects the number of filings as a percent of the number of households in an area. Click here to read more.

Home sales and prices. May 2007 vs. May 2006.

Riverside County
3,307 homes sold, -45.4 percent
$406,000 median price, -3.3 percent

San Bernardino County
2,220 homes sold, -46.5 percent
$361,750 median price, +0.5 percent

Orange County
2,675 homes sold, -28.9 percent
$635,000 median price, +0.1 percent

Los Angeles County
7,426 homes sold, -30.7 percent
$550,000 median price, +6.8 percent

San Diego County
3,385 homes sold, -24.4 percent
$492,000 median price, -1.6 percent

Ventura County
861 homes sold, -24.8 percent
$590,000 median price, -1.6 percent

Southern California
19,874 homes sold, -34.4 percent
$505,000 median price, +4.9 percent

California
36,975 homes sold, -31.7 percent
$484,000 median price, +2.5 percent
Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Mortgage swindler gets prison. Kenneth C. Ketner of Newport Beach was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison Monday and ordered to repay banks $9.27 million he swindled in a mortgage fraud scheme. The money helped Ketner buy a Lido Island waterfront home, a $250,000 Ferrari and a yacht he christened the "Aquaholic," according to civil, criminal and bankruptcy court filings. Click here to read more.

Real estate group membership keeps on growing. There are now more than 534,266 licensed Realtors in the state, according to the California Department of Real Estate. That means one out of about every 52 adult Californians has a real estate license. With continued sales declines, the California Association of Realtors expects its membership to fall to 185,000 for 2007, down from an all-time high of 199,000 last year. During the last real estate cycle, membership in the organization fell off by nearly 40 percent. Click here to read more.

~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
1655 E. Sixth St.
Beaumont, CA 92223
Work: 951-845-5520 Ext. 105
Fax: 951-845-4916
Cell: 909-446-2666
Toll-Free: 1-877-TINAJAN
tina.jan@coldwellbanker.com
www.tinajan.com

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