LAKEPORT >> The Lake County Association of Realtors (LCAOR) reported that the March median sales price of single-family residences in Lake County rose 26 percent when compared to the February median sales price.
The number of sales increased more than 55 percent rising from 54 sales in February to 84 sales in March. The uptick in the number of sales reduced the current “for sale” inventory from six months to four months. Six months of inventory is considered normal and implies that if no other listings came on the market it would take six months to sell the existing inventory.
“Inventory levels in the first three months of 2015 averaged eight months and the days on market for the same period averaged 114 days,” 2016 LCAOR President Erin Woodward said. “For the first three months of 2016 inventory levels averaged a bit over five months and the days on market averaged 78 days.”
The median sales price for March was $239,450 compared to $190,000 in February and $224,000 in March of 2015. Year over year (March 2016 vs. March 2015) the median price increased by 6.9 percent and the number of sales increased 61.5 percent. Types of financing for March showed 28.5 percent of the sales financed by cash, 34.5 percent financed by conventional loans and 10.7 percent financed by Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans.
In February 44.4 percent of the sales were financed by cash, 27.8 percent by conventional loans and 11.1 percent by FHA loans.
The market continues to have some distressed properties. Real Estate Owned (foreclosed) properties accounted for 8.3 percent of the sales, and short sales, properties sold for less than what was owed, made up 4.8 percent of the sales.
On a statewide basis the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) reported that existing, single-family home sales totaled 415,220 in March, up 5.5 percent from February and 5.7 percent above March 2015. The median sales price was $483,280 up 8.9 percent from February and up 4 percent from March 2015. The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home declined in March to 30 days, compared with 41 days in February and 34 days in March 2015. The months of available inventory was 3.6 months. C.A.R. also reported that 3.69 percent was the going rate for a 30-year fixed rate loan.
