By :  The desert Sun   Published Sunday August 2 ,  2009

Welcome to the bottom: Housing begins rebound

The Coachella Valley had the strongest month in Real Estate in June in eight months, with a 23 percent hike in sales.

The median price came off the $180,000 shelf, clocking in at $191,250.

There was a $2.1 million new construction home sale that was put on the books.

And the housing unit sales count topped 1,000 — a first in more than a year.

New figures released by MDA DataQuick offered a hint that the market is either at the bottom or is stabilizing. It's possible it could be trending up.

The last Real Estate market high for the Coachella Valley came in October 2008 when home, condo and new construction sales rose nearly 32 percent with 853 all-combined sales. In June, DataQuick reported 1,011 total sales across the Coachella Valley.

“I think the early indication is prices are stabilizing, and the market is in an improvement mode,'' said Greg Berkemer, executive director of the california desert Association of Realtors. “If it continues to repeat over the next few months, at some point we may be able to point back and say, whoop, there was the bottom.”

Interest rates are still in a good range.

Though banks are tougher on underwriting, buyers seem to be resigned to the rigors involved. The market has absorbed price reductions, and Berkemer said buyers are getting the picture that now may not be the time to hang around and wait for a big drop in price.

“It's find what you want and get moving,'' he said.

DataQuick's report for June noted that:

• Existing home sales rose 43 percent from June 2008.

The highest-priced property out of the 719 sales fetched $2.9 million. The median price in the existing home category was $167,000.

• Condo resales, with a median price in the $237,250 range, were up 14.4 percent with 199 transactions.

• New construction sales fell 35.4 percent, but 93 home sales were recorded. The median price, $249,500.

Cities posting the strongest sales gains were in areas that have been described, as late, as an investor or first-time home buyers' dream.

Spots tend to be hardest hit by the housing downturn and rising unemployment.

That's causing prices in upscale areas to feel the pinch. While sales in one ZIP code of Desert Hot Springs have surged 650 percent, for instance, double-digit home pricing declines are being noted in upper-middle class sections and in small, upscale communities like Indian Wells.

“The first beneficiaries of this market improvement is the lower price properties,'' said Berkemer, for a couple reasons. There are more of them. That, and the best programs in home purchases still remain for the first-time buyer.

A state tax credit also helped spur new-construction home sales. Though the percentage of new construction home sales is down year-over-year, the number of 2009 sales through June — 364 — has been rising month-by-month. There were 93 sales in June; 60 in May, 48 in April, 76 in March and 48 in February. That's two-and-half times the number of sales in January, 39.

 

“This is the market buyers have been waiting for for 10 years.''