Despite robust closed escrow sales in June, California pending home sales slipped for the sixth consecutive month, suggesting an impending slowdown in the state’s housing market as the peak homebuying season winds down, the California Association of Realtors said Monday.
Based on signed contracts, year-over-year statewide pending home sales fell for the sixth straight month in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, with the Pending Home Sales Index declining 0.9 percent from 119.0 in June 2016 to 117.9 in June 2017, according to a CAR statement. California pending home sales also slipped on a monthly basis, decreasing 0.6 percent from the May index of 118.7. Pending home sales have declined every month so far this year, but the pace of decline has slowed in recent months.
Pending sales in the Southern California Region continued their upward trend in June and posted a 2.5 percent improvement from the previous year, as San Bernardino County and Orange County saw healthy bumps of 10.3 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively, the statement said. Pending sales in San Diego (-3.6 percent), Riverside (-6.9 percent), and Los Angeles (-1.7 percent) counties declined from last June.
The Central Valley also posted a healthy pending sales gain in June, rising 5.2 percent from a year ago. Kern County saw its first significant increase (5.7 percent) in pending sales for the year after battling with the after-effects of precipitous declines in the energy markets. The San Francisco Bay Area experienced a dip in pending sales in June, nudging down 0.6 percent on an annual basis. San Francisco County reversed last month’s double-digit pending sales decline and rose 22.2 percent, while San Mateo and Santa Clara counties posted pending sales decreases of 10.1 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, as inventories remained extremely low and median prices exceeded $1 million.
