California's housing market continued to show signs of improvement in June, as home sales experienced solid gains annually and home prices reached their highest level since August 2010, according to new data from the California Association of Realtors (CAR).
CAR reports that closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California declined 8.6% from May's revised 567,330 to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 518,460 in June. Last month's sales rose 8.5% from June 2011's revised 478,040 pace.
CAR adds that the statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home was $320,540 in June, a 1.3% rise from a revised $316,410 in May and 8.1% from a revised $296,410 recorded in June 2011. Last month's figure was also 30.7% higher than the cyclical bottom of $245,230 reached in February 2009.
However, CAR says that California's housing inventory remained flat in June, with the unsold inventory index for existing, single-family detached homes remaining at 3.5 months in June, consistent with the inventory level reported in May.
‘The lack of inventory continued to impact California's housing market this month. Tight supply is putting upward pressure on home prices, but it also is restraining sales demand, especially in lower-price segments,’ says CAR Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. ‘In June, sales below $300,000 declined 4.1 percent from the previous month, while sales of homes priced higher than $500,000 increased 2.3 percent.’