Man, I thought the IE was in a nose dive. Check out the latest report for North County San Diego.
North County's housing market reversed course last month, dampening the possibility of a pending recovery from slow sales and falling prices. A monthly housing report released Thursday showed the sales boom of September and October had softened and prices plummeted at an alarming rate.
The median price of a house in North County took an absolute beating, dropping 12 percent in just one month. That brought the median price in November to 40 percent below the same month a year ago, dropping to $358,000.
Sales were up just 32 percent from a year ago after two straight months of sales that were double the weak 2007 numbers.
North County has been mired in a severe housing recession for two years with anemic sales and tumbling prices. Strong sales numbers in September and October had provided a glimmer of evidence that price declines might be nearing an end. Thursday's report, released by the North San Diego County Association of Realtors, debunked that idea.
"Unemployment is skyrocketing, expectations about the economy are falling and I would suggest people are becoming somewhat more cautious about purchasing," said Mark Goldman, a real estate lecturer at San Diego State University.
Still, price declines appeared to be very real. The median price per square foot, which adjusts for the size of the house, also tumbled ---- falling by 8 percent in just one month and down 30 percent from last year. Such a dive in prices set records in the four-year-old survey for biggest drops in median price and median price per square foot. It was also the first time in the history of the report, known as HomeDex, that the median price per square foot dipped below $200, declining to $196.
.........................
It will be interesting to see what the IE numbers look like. I don't expect to see a 12% monthly drop though, so don't get too excited. We've been dropping between 3 to 5% per month. With the October stock market collapse and the rising unemployment starting to factor in, it is conceivable that the monthly drops may see an increase.