Wall Street had a mixed run on Tuesday as consumer confidence fell while home prices rose for the first time in three years.   The New York-based Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index, which retreated last month, fell to 46.6, down from 49.3 in June. Economists had expected a reading of 49.   While the CCI dropped, Standard & Poor’s/Case-Schiller released data that showed U.S. single-family home prices rose in May from April, the first monthly increase in three years!  This is exciting news for the real estate industry.  We will have to wait and see if this progress continues.

Southern California home sales rose in June to their highest levels in the past 30 months as the number of deals above $500,000 continued to climb higher. June’s sales gained, plus another rise in the region’s median sale price, indicate buyers responded to price cuts on mid to high-end homes and found it easier to secure financing for pricier abodes, a real estate information service reported.  A total of 23,262 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties last month. That was up 12% from 20,775 in May and up 29 % from a revised 18,032 a year ago, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.  Sales have increased year-over-year for 12 consecutive months.

June’s sales were the highest for that month since 2006, when 31,602 homes sold, but were 17.7% below the average June sales total since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.  June sales peaked at 40,156 in 2005 and hit a low last year.

Foreclosures remained a major force in June, but their impact on the resale market eased for the third consecutive month.

Foreclosure resales – homes sold in June that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – represented 45.3 percent of Southland resales last month, down from 49.7 percent in May and down from a peak 56.7 percent in February this year. Last month’s level was the lowest since foreclosure resales were 43.7 percent of resales in July 2008.

As the influence of deeply discounted foreclosures in lower-cost areas has waned in recent months, sales in higher-cost housing markets have increased and accounted for a greater share of total transactions.

Resales of single-family houses priced $500,000 and above rose to 19.6 percent of all existing houses sold in June, up from 18.0 percent in May but still down from 29.2 a year ago. The last time the $500,000-plus market made up more than 19 percent of sales was last October, when it was 19.9 percent. Sales of $500,000-plus houses dipped to as little as 13.4 percent of sales in January this year.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southern California buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,193 last month, up from $1,052 the previous month, and down from $1,762 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 46.0 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 55.7 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

A Harris Ineractive consumer survey showed that home buyers who used a one-stop shop in their latest real estate transaction were more satisfied with their overall experience than those who used servces from mulitple providers.  Many of the leading real estate brokerage firms are already taking this approach.  It constantly proves to be beneficial at Century 21 All Moves in Granada Hills.  According to RISMedia’s 21st Annual Power Broker Report & Survey, 44% of the country’s top 950 brokerage firms offer both mortgage and escrow services.  Home buyers will have a more satisfying experience in an environment where real estate brokerages and banks work together, which can help bring them and their family and friends back time and time again in future transactions…  and that’s something to build on.

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With prices starting at $599,500, these beautiful equestrian homes in Sylmar are a deal not to be missed!  The homes have already started selling, and with a recent sellers commission increase to 4%, do not expect them to be around very long.  Each of these estates boasts a minimum home square footage of 3,100 square feet, and a minimum lot square footage of 17,500 square feet. 

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