California 'New' Home Sales Starting to Sag?

Sales at new-home communities in California continued to level off in June, according to a joint report from the California Building Industry Association and Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. Sales in projects of 10 units or more were 26% below June 2008, the same percentage decline as in May. Sales of homes and condominiums totaled 2,607 for the month, compared to 3,528 a year ago. Jonathan Dienhart, director of published research at HWMI, said the June numbers are slightly less encouraging than prior months. "We had been seeing year-over-year decline percentages steadily shrink, yet June's figures are essentially the same as last month so that's a bit of a stall in the trend," Mr. Dienhart said. "It will definitely take a longer time to start mounting a significant recovery with home purchase tax credits due to expire and the broader economy continuing to struggle." Sales of single family homes were down by 38% in June, while sales of townhouses and "plexes" — duplexes, triplexes, etc. — were down 16%. Condo sales, on the other hand, were up 9%. Compared with the same period last year, the median base price of homes sold dropped by 5%.