figures have been dipping for four months. (Thinkstock)
Despite ultra-low interest rates, California’s real estate market continued to underperform in July, with pending home sales figures dipping for the fourth straight month, the California Association of Realtors reported today.
The Pending Home Sales Index dropped 2.3 percent from 107 in June to 104.5 in July, based on signed contracts, CAR reported in a statement. The month-to-month drop was consistent with seasonal trends. Pending sales were down 9.2 percent from the 115.1 index recorded in July 2013.
Pending home sales are forward-looking indicators of future home sales activity, providing information on the future direction of the market. They have been down year to year since October 2012, but the pace appears to be
decelerating as the decrease in July was smaller than the average in the last six months, according to CAR.
The share of equity sales, or non-distressed property sales, continued its upward trend, rising in July to 90.6 percent, up from 90.3 percent in June, CAR reported. Equity sales have been rising steadily again since the beginning of this year.
Equity sales have been more than 80 percent of total sales for more than two years and have risen above 90 percent for the second straight month. Equity sales made up 82.8 percent of sales in July 2013, CAR reported.
The combined share of all distressed property sales declined further in July, dropping from 9.7 percent in June to 9.4 percent in July, it said. Distressed sales continued to be down more than 50 percent from a year ago, when the share was 17.2 percent.
Twenty-one of the 41 reporting counties showed a month-to-month decrease in the share of distressed sales, with 20 of the counties recording in the single-digits, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Orange, Plumas, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Sonoma, and Santa Clara counties, all of which registered a share of 5 percent or less, according to CAR.
