California’s housing market continues to be bifurcated both geographically and demographically, with the San Francisco Bay Area and high-end housing markets outperforming other regions and market segments,” said California Association of Realtors chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young. “A strong job market and barriers to building new housing are creating an imbalance between supply and demand in some housing markets. Buyers who are not impacted by affordability issues are fueling sales in the high-end market, which is putting upward pressure on home prices.
There is not more money coming into the California real estate market, there is actually much, much less. Cash sales totaled 7,547 in August and were 22% of total sales. Cash sales have been steadily declining, down 46.2%, since reaching a peak of 14,028, or 40% of total sales in August 2011.According to Property Radar, flip sales fell 2.3% for the month and are down 36.5% for the year.
Flip sales peaked in October 2012 and have declined 38.2%.California real estate is also quickly losing the attention of corporate money.Institutional Investor purchases edged up 0.9% for the month but are down 23% from August 2013.
As the supply of distressed properties dwindle and prices rise, institutional investor demand has retreated due to the lower return on investment.In general, institutional purchases have posted consistent monthly declines since peaking in December 2012 and are down 43.9% since then. Trustee sale purchases by LLCs and LPs are down nearly 83.6% from their October 2012 peak.
