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Lake County’s January real estate sales slow as prices rise
The Lake County Association of Realtors reported that the number of single family residential sales in January decreased by over 32 percent when compared to December 2017 sales.
Fifty-two sales were reported in January with 77 selling in December. In January 2017, 58 sales were reported.
Despite the decrease in sales the $271,450 median price in January bested the December median of $269,000 by 0.9 percent. On a year-over-year basis the January 2018 median exceeded the January 2017 median of $215,000 by over 26%.
“It is not uncommon to see sales slow in the winter months,” stated Melissa Chapman, 2018 LCAOR president. “The percentage increase in sales price over last January was somewhat unexpected but indicative of how the market has performed as a whole on the statewide level.”
Both cash only purchases and distressed sales decreased when compared to December and January 2017 sales.
Cash financing was used in 15.4 percent of the sales and 5.8 percent of the sales were distressed. In January 2017 cash only purchases accounted for nearly 26 percent of the transactions and distressed sales made up 13.8 percent of the deals.
The California Association of Realtors, or CAR, reported existing, single-family home sales in California totaled 388,000 in January on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, down 7.6 percent from December and down 2.9 percent from January 2017.
January’s statewide median home price was $527,800, down 4 percent from December and up 7.3 percent from January 2017.
Mortgage rates broke the 4.0 percent barrier in January as 30-year, fixed-mortgage interest rates averaged 4.03 percent in January, up from 3.95 percent in December but down from 4.15 percent in January 2017, according to Freddie Mac.
The five-year, adjustable mortgage interest rate also edged higher in January to an average of 3.47 percent from 3.39 percent in December and from 3.24 percent in January 2017.
LAKE COUNTY NUMBERS AT A GLANCE
January 2018
Median price: $271,450
Units sold: 52
Median days to sell: 58
December 2017
Median price: $269,000
Units sold: 77
Median days to sell: 56
January 2017
Median price: $215,000
Units sold: 58
Median days to sell: 56