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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (11861)	9/15/2004 5:19:50 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 116555

As Mike Magner would say, ho-ho-ho.

To: mishedlo who wrote (11861)	9/16/2004 1:29:59 PM
From: FrozenZ	Respond to of 116555

Cooling seen in housing market as prices rising dailynews.com By Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer Home sales fell nearly 10 percent in Southern California during August though price appreciation remained strong with the median hitting a record $407,000, industry tracker DataQuick Information Systems reported Wednesday. Prices soared at an annual rate of 20 percent or more across the six-county region from Ventura to San Diego. DataQuick's report includes all types of housing stock. Sales were a mixed bag, though, declining in four counties. The biggest drops, 31 percent and 32 percent came in Ventura and Orange counties, where 1,735 and 5,511 properties changed hands. The median price in Ventura soared 27.2 percent to a record $514,000 and in Orange County it jumped 24.8 percent to match the record $543,000 first reached in June. This is probably why sales declined sharply, said DataQuick analyst John Karevoll. "It was clear ... that the potential sellers were just out there trying to see what their property would bring. A lot of them put prices on the property that were higher than the market would bear," Karevoll said. In Los Angeles County, sales fell to 10,710 units from 11,874 a year ago. The median-priced home jumped to 20.4 percent to $407,000, just under June's record of $414,000. Across the region, 31,131 new and used homes and condominiums sold during August, off 5.6 percent from June and 9.6 percent a year ago. While the median reached a record for the region, the annual gain of 20.4 percent was the smallest this year. DataQuick, based in La Jolla, said no alarming signs of distress are evident in the market. Foreclosure rates are low and down payment sizes remain stable. "The current numbers reflect a fairly well balanced market," Karevoll said. While sales counts fell, they did so from a high level a year ago. And the momentum in this kind of market is sustainable, he said. Nima Nattagh, an analyst at FNC, which supplies market data to the mortgage banking industry, also thinks a cooling, rather than a big turn, is in the works. "The market is still good, but you've started seeing preliminary signs of a softening in terms of prices," he said.