LOS ANGELES -- California pending home resales rose in August from July, but a continuing shortage of housing inventory sent pending resales lower than the previous year.
The California Association of Realtors’ (CAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 2.7 percent from July to August, based on signed contracts.
Pending resales were down 2 percent from August 2011.
August’s year-to-year decline reversed a 15-month trend of higher pending resales than the previous year.
“While August’s pending sales were higher than July, the pending sales decline from last year is not a surprise, as we started to see a gradual slowdown in the year-to-year change over the past five months, primarily due to a dearth of available homes,” said CAR President LeFrancis Arnold.
The share of equity resales – or non-distressed property sales – compared with total resales grew to its largest level in four years.
In San Diego County, the share of single-family distressed resales fell to 17 percent in August, from 20 percent a month earlier and 27 percent in August 2011.
The statewide share of equity resales in August increased to 62.2 percent, up from 59.5 percent in July. Equity resales made up 51.7 percent of all sales in August 2011.
The share of REO sales contracted further in August, while the share of short resales crept up slightly.
The combined share of all distressed property resales statewide fell to 37.8 percent in August, down from 40.5 percent in July and down from 48.3 percent in August 2011.
Of the distressed properties, the share of short resales edged up to 23 percent in August from 22.6 percent in July and from 20.2 percent a year ago.
In Orange County, the share of single-family distressed resales fell to 27 percent in August, from 29 percent a month earlier and 33 percent in August 2011.
In Riverside County, one of the two counties considered to be the Inland Empire of Southern California, the share of single-family distressed resales fell to 52 percent in August, from 55 percent a month earlier and 62 percent in August 2011.
In San Bernardino County, the other Inland Empire county, the share of single-family distressed resales fell to 49 percent in August, from 53 percent a month earlier and 64 percent in August 2011.
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