The article included below from this weekend’s National Mortgage News talks about how the number of single family home sales in CA doubled between January 2009 and January 2008….while the median home price dropped over 40% (during the same period). The article also mentions that the CAR unsold inventory index dropped to 6.7 months in January 2009, from 16.6 months for the same period a year ago….indicating supply is decreasing.

On the surface, the article might lead one to believe that the CA single family real estate market is stabilizing and the rate of home price declines should begin to slow down. However, the unfortunate fact is that there has been no improvement in CA’s real economy during the last year.

Instead the situation has gotten significantly worse, as evidenced by company layoff announcements which are now ubiquitous and reflected in the increased and increasing CA state unemployment rate. This leads me to a hypothesis that “reality” is likely different than one would think based on the CAR home sales and unsold inventory level data.

California’s single family real estate unsold inventory levels are likely artificially low right now, as inventory has been held on Bank/Investor balance sheets for 2 reasons:

1. The moratorium on foreclosures at several large Banks/Servicers including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

2. A general slowdown in property disposition activity as Servicers first waited to learn the details of the Obama housing plan (announced about a week ago) and now start the process of assessing borrower’s eligibility for loan modification or refinance under the expanded set of guidelines under the Obama plan. It is only after this process is completed that Servicer’s will start to move forward with alternate plans (including possible foreclosure) on those borrowers who didn’t qualify for a loan modification or refinance.

The truth is the Obama plan (both on loan modifications and refinances) – which only applies to mortgages that have a conforming loan balance – is less likely to help CA home owners than those in states where home prices were lower (i.e., more conforming) during the boom period.

As a result, a large percentage of the assets held on balance sheet will likely need to be sold in the future. While it’s impossible to really know where the CA real estate market will go (as this will be impacted by many yet unknown factors)….my gut instincts tell me there is likely another leg down to come for CA home prices.

PS: Here’s the article I mentioned:

CA Home SalesDouble in Jan.
By Jennifer Harmon

LOS ANGELES-Statewide home sales in January edged past 600,000, double the year before, signifying that the market is gradually working its way through the large numbers of distressed sales caused by the mortgage crisis, according to the president of the California Association of Realtors.
While the median price of a home fell 40.5% in California in January, single-family home sales increased 100.8% with a total of 624,940 homes, according to CAR. The resale activity was up from the revised 311,160 sales pace recorded in January 2008. Sales in January 2009 increased 14% compared with December.

Click here for the full article: NMN Article