Builders: Cal New Home Market on Verge of Stabilizing

The pace of sales at California new-home communities continued to fall in November, but the decline was small enough for the California Building Industry Association to say that the industry is "on the threshold" of stabilization. According to the monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence report, sales in projects of 10 units or more in November were 4% below November 2008. Although activity was down, the relatively small movement is an improvement over most month-to-month changes in 2009. During November, 1,860 new homes and condominiums were sold in the subdivisions tracked by Costa Mesa-based HWMI, compared to 1,934 in the same month the year before. Sales of single-family homes were down 18%, while condo sales were 39% higher, thanks to strong sales at projects in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas. Compared with the same period last year, the median base price of homes sold was nearly unchanged, down just 0.3%. "We have more or less reached (a) threshold," said Jonathan Dienhart, director of published research at HWMI. "While that milestone of stabilization is encouraging, it is far from what could be termed a recovery."