California Enjoyed Vibrant Home Sales in March

The California housing market for March reached its highest sales pace in six months, according to new data from the California Association of Realtors (CAR).

Sales of existing single-family totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 415,220 units last month, up 5.5 percent from the revised 393,430 level in February and up 5.7 percent compared with home sales in March 2015 of a revised 392,660. March’s sales level rose above the 400,000 level for the first time in three months. The median price of an existing, single-family detached California home rose 8.9 percent from February to March, reversing a two-month decline, to $483,280 from $443,950 in February. March’s median price was four percent higher than the revised $464,640 recorded in March 2015.

Furthermore, the number of active listings increased 3.9 percent from February while the median number of days it took to sell a single-family home declined in March to 29.9 days, compared with 41.4 days in February and 34.2 days in March 2015.

“California’s housing market is moving in the right direction as we enter the spring home-buying season, but sales growth will likely be isolated in areas where inventory is more abundant and housing affordability is less of an issue,” said CAR President Pat Zicarelli. “For example, in the Bay Area, where inventory is extremely tight, annual sales are down in the double-digits in seven of the region’s nine counties. Solano and Sonoma, two counties where homes are relatively more affordable, were the exceptions. Home sales in these two counties grew from last year by nearly 11 percent and five percent, respectively.”