San Francisco Bay Area home sales weakened in June, crashed to the lowest levels not seen in over 11 years, according to new data from CoreLogic, first reported by The Mercury News.
Existing home sales plunged 13% last month from the previous year. June home sales were at the lowest levels since the 2008 real estate meltdown.
YoY June sales crashed by 14.6% in Santa Clara County, 21.6% in Contra Costa County, 8.9% in San Mateo County, and 21.7% in San Francisco County.
CoreLogic analyst Andrew LePage said that despite a decline in interest rates and more supply of homes throughout the area, buyers aren’t showing up as prices remain near all-time highs.
“Across the board, prices have hit a point where people have stopped responding,” LePage said.
Median sale prices in June for existing homes fell 2.2% across the Bay Area’s nine counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. This was the most significant drop since 1Q12, the report said.
Home prices in Santa Clara County declined 5.3% in June and marked the fifth straight month of price deteriorations in the tech-centric region.
The median sale price for the region was $900,000, down from a peak of $928,000 last May.
LePage noted that in the last year – the entire market has shifted from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market.
The region’s deteriorating housing market was led by a drop to $1.2 in Santa Clara County, a 2% fall to $926,000 in Alameda County, and 1.6% drop to $625,000 in Sonoma County.
However, median sale prices did rise 2.3% to $665,000 in Contra Costa, expanded 3.3% to $1.55 million in San Mateo, and increased 1.9% to $1.58 million in San Francisco.
The New York Times, The Financial Times, Forbes Magazine, CNBC, and other financial news outlets pumped countless headlines earlier this year about how the tsunami of tech IPOs would lead to a surge in home buying activity across the Bay Area. Those reports were fake news considering Bay Area real estate brokers have slashed expectations for the year.
Alan Wang, an agent-based in Santa Clara, said buyers are avoiding townhomes and condos in favor of single-family homes.
Condo sales in the region dropped 10%, and the median sale price fell 6% to $720,000.
“They’re not selling,” Wang said.
Jeff Tucker, an economist with Zillow, said that inventory in San Francisco had jumped significantly in 1H19 due to collapsing sales.
“If demand wanes and inventory mounts, prices could soften more. However, lower mortgage rates might still help trigger stronger buying, putting upward pressure on prices,” LePage said.
And with Zillow economists forecasting a recession for 2020, this is more bad news for Bay Area homes the could see sales continue to crash even further, leading to an extended decline in home prices.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2T1vWoM Tyler Durden