Just when we thought we were getting a handle on the new normal in real estate, the new normal changes.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that “new U.S. single-family home sales rose unexpectedly in April to notch their second straight month of gains and prices increased.”
Specifically, “sales increased 7.3% to a seasonally adjusted 323,000 unit annual rate, the highest level since December, from a slightly upwardly revised 301,000-unit pace in March.”
Further, all four U.S. regions polled recorded sales gains, with the Western region registering a 15.1% increase.
Home prices are rising too. The Commerce Department also reported that the median sales price for a new home rose 1.6% last month to $217,900, a 4.6% increase from April 2010.
Not surprisingly, this forced down the new home supply to 6.5 months from the 7.2 months registered last March.
This good news may not provide much comfort to the Orange County folks who are trying to buy or sell homes in 2011, but it is encouraging nonetheless as it could portend a rising tide in existing home sales.
Speaking of existing home sales, there’s that unpredictable new normal again.
May figures released by San Diego-based DataQuick show Orange County home and condominium resales up, down and sideways, with no apparent rationale for the variances.
Consider that on Balboa Island the median April sales price for a home jumped a whopping 59% over April 2010, while just moments away in Corona del Mar, no less desirable an area, the median year-over-year price dropped 25% but the median resale condominium priced was up 23.9% over April 2010.
Next door to both communities, two Newport Beach ZIP codes showed an average median home price increase of 18% while a third, 92663, dropped 45%.
Moving down the coast, the average April median resale price for April was $926,000, a 21% drop from April 2010. In fact, of the five ZIP codes that make up the beach communities of Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Capistrano Beach and San Clemente, all but one showed resale home price declines. The only one showing an increase over April, 2010 was San Clemente 92673, which increased 8%.
A bit inland in Irvine, just named the nation’s safest city of more than 100,000 people, there are eight ZIP codes and at least as many was to slice the new resale data. Two ZIPs, 92620 and 92602, showed no change from a year ago, while 92603, 92604, 92606, 92614 and 92618 showed declines ranging from 4% to 45% and averaging 28%. That’s a big drop for the city that was once the butt of “cookie cutter” jokes but is now one of the most desirable communities in Southern California.
Just one Irvine ZIP code, 92612, showed an increase, which was 14%.
Curiously, the second largest sales price drop, 42%, occurred in 92618, where the median condominium price rose 27.4% for the same period.
Also on the real estate yo-yo is Costa Mesa, where April median resale home prices in 92627 dropped 19% while prices rose in 92626 by 1%. In both Costa Mesa areas, median resale condominium prices dropped by 13.5% and 5%, respectively.
All of these price fluctuations occurred while the state of California registered its first jobless rate below 12% since August 2009, according to the Employment Development Department. There was even an 8,900 increase in payroll jobs.
With numbers making less sense each month, the best home sales or buying advice may be to act now because if it’s not one thing, it’ll be another.
STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to smi161@aol.com.
