According to a report from the California Association of Realtors, sales of single-family homes in California fell nearly 20% in June compared with last year’s booming market.
Sales fell about 4% in June compared with May, the report found. Escrow sales volume was approximately 277,500 in June. About 289,500 homes were sold in May. June 2023 will be the ninth straight month of sales below 300,000 in the state.
CAR’s statewide sales survey showed that sales in Siskiyou County (home to Mount Shasta) and Yuba County near Sacramento saw sharp declines in June compared to May sales, down about 31%. However, these effects were offset by relatively healthy sales in densely populated centers such as Los Angeles, which were down nearly 1% in June compared to May. In San Francisco County, there was a 7.5% increase month-over-month.
Both Los Angeles and San Francisco counties reported significant declines compared to last year.
Home prices in Los Angeles in June 2023 were down about 19% compared to the previous year. San Francisco dropped nearly 17%.
By October, Jordan Levine, chief economist at CAR, predicted that the big difference from the peak sales season of 2022 could disappear. Levine also predicts that conditions will improve in the single-family home market.
“Buyer demand appears to have stabilized after rates doubled last year, but rates are still likely to move higher in the coming months,” Levin said. “With inflation finally subsiding later this year, there could be some improvement in the market as rates and supply conditions start to improve.”
California’s median home price was $838,000 in June, down 2.4% for the eighth straight month from $858,800 in June 2022. San Francisco’s median home price was about $1.6 million in June, down 4 percent from $1.7 million in May. The median price in Los Angeles County is about $832,000, up 11 percent from the May median of $745,000.
