California Resales Fall 24.5%

The sales of existing single-family detached homes in California were down 24.5% in March from the level recorded a year earlier, according to the California Association of Realtors. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of closed-escrow resales totaled 318,830 in March, down from the 422,300-unit rate recorded in March 2007, CAR reported. The median price of an existing single-family detached home in California totaled $413,980 in March, down 29% from a revised $582,930 a year earlier, the association said. "Both tighter underwriting standards and the ongoing effects of the credit/liquidity crunch continue to constrain sales," said CAR vice president and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young. "Historically, mortgage rates on jumbo loans are 0.2% to 0.4% higher than those on conforming loans, but the spreads in recent weeks have been as large as 2 percentage points, reflecting an increase in the perceived risk associated with these loans." CAR can be found online at http://www.car.org.