California home prices in November were up by just over 9% (9.3%) from a year ago. The figure comes from Clear Capital – a company that monitors home prices.
“There’s a long way to go but the state’s really on the right path,” says Alex Villacorta.
Alex Villacorta with Clear Capital says nationwide, home values are up by only 4.6%. He says California’s numbers are more dramatic because the state saw some of the biggest home price declines.
Clear Capital’s latest numbers also show a drop in sales of distressed, bank-owned properties…also known as REOs.
The REO saturation rate in California is at 20%.
“And this is down off of a peak of nearly 60% back at the end of 2008. So really in about 4 years the state of California has dramatically cut back on the number of distressed sales which signifies a shift in buyer demand, buyer preference from the distressed side to the fair market side,” he remarks.
Villacorta says the housing market momentum could be at risk if the nation goes over the “fiscal cliff” and people start to change their buying habits.
