Sales Plunge in September

A total of 2,152 homes sold in the county last month, a 35.5 percent drop from September 2006, according to numbers released today by DataQuick Information Systems. It was the lowest month for sales since January 1996.

The decline in sales is even more stunning compared to the previous couple of Septembers. Last month’s total marks a 60.4 percent drop in sales from September 2005, when 5,432 homes sold. And it marks a 62.9 percent drop in sales from September 2004, when 5,807 homes sold.

The sales decline hit in all categories:

• Resale condo sales totaled 540, a 20.2 percent drop from September a year ago.
• Resale detached home sales totaled 1,069. That’s a 39.6 percent from September 2006.
• New home sales dropped by 38.9 percent to a total of 543.

The six counties in Southern California tracked by DataQuick had the lowest number of sales in more than two decades, the firm reported.

Analysts with DataQuick attributed much of the decline to the effects of August’s credit crunch, when jumbo loans — those for more than $417,000 — became much more difficult to qualify to borrow.

DataQuick also reported the all-home median slid 3.1 percent over the year to reach $470,000 last month. The median price for resale detached homes slid by 5.5 percent to $515,000. The median price for resale condos was $350,000, down 8.5 percent from September 2006. And the new home median price was 20.5 percent higher year-over-year, at $498,205.

Remember, the median price is the midpoint among all of the homes that sold. See our previous post on DataParty 2.0 for more on how we’ll cover prices from here out.

— KELLY BENNETT