Calculated Risk has posted some of the details and additional commentary regarding the Northern California sales numbers that just came out for November. He makes the point that I have also been trying to make and that is:
Be careful with median prices. This doesn’t mean prices have fallen to an eight year low – this means that a combination of price declines and a significant change in mix (to lower priced homes) has happened. The Case-Shiller repeat sales index is a better measure of actual price declines. (Calculated Risk)
Other highlights from DataQuick’s report include:
- FHA loans now represent 20% of purchases – up from 1% a year ago
- Jumbo loans (those over $417,000) were 62% of all purchases in Aug. 2007…they were 23% in November
- Median sales price dropped 44% from $629,000 to $350,000
Looks like the price swings are a little more extreme in California than they are here. Because our average priced home has typically been in the $220,000 – $240,000 range, it’s not quite such a hit when we see so much activity in homes under $150,000, but in California where they were seeing homes typically sell for $600-$700k, it’s a bigger impact when they fall to $350k.