Southern California’s housing market showed continued—albeit mild—improvement in June but conditions are still fragile, according to new figures compiled by DataQuick.
The June median price in the six-county Southern California region rose 1.7% from May and 5.3% from a year ago. A total of 22,075 new and resale houses and condominiums sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties during the month—a 7.5% improvement from a year ago but down 0.5% from May.
A potential concern for the area is a proposal in the region that could lead to eminent domain acquisitions of housing liens in the troubled Inland Empire region, according to DataQuick president John Walsh.
Walsh said he understands the motivation for the idea, noting that price and sales improvements have been mostly coastal—not inland.
But Walsh said he believes “eminent domain is absolutely the wrong way to go.” If enacted, he fears it would threaten the recovery in the larger region.
“As a concept, it is what it is,” he said, saying the chief concern is usage.
“At that point, it could” raise all kinds of questions about “what is appropriate or not” under eminent domain, which could create the kind of uncertainty among market participants that could dampen recovery in the larger housing market and “materially affect it, he said.
