Southern California's house hunters must move 23% faster this year to find a residence to buy.
ReportsOnHousing found Southern California had 29,635 existing homes listed for sale on broker networks Oct. 19. That's down 5,906 or 17% versus a year ago. Meanwhile, the four-county region had 13,645 new escrows in the previous 30 days — up 1,124 or 9% in a year.
By comparing inventory with the pace of new purchases, ReportsOnHousing shows the estimated "market time" a homeowner’s property went from listing to escrow was down by 20 days in a year to 65 days, or a 23% faster pace.
"The storyline for 2017 is that there simply have not been enough homes on the market, fueling the already hot demand," said ReportsOnHousing's Steve Thomas. "Continued low rates have also stoked the fires of demand here in SoCal. Home values have been on the rise and will continue to march upward as long as the inventory shortage continues, which it will in 2018."
The speed of selling was faster in all four Southern California counties versus 2016.
Riverside County quickened the most. Its 7,847 listings, down 20% in a year, when compared with 3,610 escrows, up 38%, equaled a market time of 65 days. That's down 47 days in a year.
San Bernardino County’s acceleration ranked second. Its 4,965 listings, down 14%, came as 2,124 escrows opened, up 6%. Market time fell 16 days in a year to 70 days.
Los Angeles County's 11,608 listings, down 15%, came as 5,518 escrows opened, up 2%. Market time fell 12 days in a year to 63 days.
Orange County was the lone county with falling new escrows. Its 5,215 listings, down 18%, compared to 2,393 escrows, down 4%. Market time fell 11 days in a year to 65 days.
Home prices rose in September throughout Southern California, pushing the regionwide median to its bubble-era high of $505,000 for the first time in a decade, CoreLogic reported this week. Los Angeles County's median hit an all-time high of $575,000 for a third straight month. The median price in Riverside County was $360,000; San Bernardino was $325,000.
A late-summer surge in home buying pushed Orange County housing prices to record highs. The median price of a home — or the price at the midpoint of all transactions — hit $710,000 last month, up 10.9% year over year, housing tracker CoreLogic reported Tuesday.
