California Leads the Way (Down)

By Norb Leahy

California is ahead of the rest of the country on Agenda 21 implementation.  The Bay area is finally rebelling against unelected regional governance, land seizures, attacks on property rights and regional tyranny.  It’s good to watch California to see the ill effects of Agenda 21 land use planning. California began environmental brainwashing over 40 years ago, so the majority of their citizens were unprepared for the slick sales jobs presented in “visioning” sessions that kicked off government control of their land. They thought the federal grant bribes were a good deal, like free money.  Now they aren’t so sure going regional was a good idea.  In Georgia, we rejected regionalism in 2012, but that doesn’t mean the Georgia regionalists have given up.

 

California has had tough sledding for over a decade, with businesses relocating to other states and jobs following, with high tax rates, water problems, forest fire problems, regional governance, high debt, cities going bankrupt, the illegal alien invasion, government abuse and earthquakes. The fact that California is still there is a testament to the resilience of what’s left of the local economy. But if Agenda 21 wants to take over our cars, move us out of the suburbs and stack us in small apartments in transit villages, we should see this occur first in California before it hits Georgia.

 

The following article from Uncommon Wisdom Daily outlines the housing sales downturn in California, mostly in the Bay area:

 

California Leads the Way – by Brad Hoppmann

Beware, Homeowners: Housing Trends Don't Look So Good - Affordability challenges - Trouble in the Southland - Homeownership going out of style?

 

If home is where the heart is, then wealthy Chinese hearts are at home in California. However, some foreign homebuyers may now be having second thoughts.

 

[House for sale] I reported in July how the Chinese and other foreign buyers were snapping up large West Coast houses while many American born citizens try to downsize (see Chinese-American House Swapping).

 

More recent data indicates the trend may be slowing. Average selling prices in some California markets dropped significantly in the last few months, while the raw number of homes sold plunged in the Los Angeles area last month.

 

Home equity is still a huge part of most family balance sheets. Another popped bubble could mean very bad news for millions. Let’s see what the West Coast trendsetters are saying.

 

DQNews.com is a real estate news and information site. Here is a headline they ran last Thursday.

 

[headline] Southland is the six-county Los Angeles region and seems as if August was a soft month for home sales there. Here is the beginning of the DQNews.com story.

 

“Irvine, Calif. — Southern California home sales slipped to a  four-year low for August as would-be buyers faced inventory and affordability challenges  and investor purchases held at the lowest level in several years. The median sale price climbed to a post-recession high, a real estate information service  reported.

 

“A total of 18,796 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los  Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last  month. That was down 7.7 percent from 20,369 sales in July, and down 18.5  percent from 23,057 sales in August 2013, according to CoreLogic DataQuick  data.

 

“On average, sales have risen 3.7 percent between July and August since 1988, when CoreLogic DataQuick statistics began. Southland sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 11 consecutive months. Sales during the month of August have ranged from a low of 16,379 in 1992 to a high of 39,562 in  2003. Last month’s sales were 28.2 percent below the August average of 26,169 sales.

 

“The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the six-county region last month was $420,000, up 1.7 percent from  $413,000 in July and up 9.1 percent from $385,000 in August 2013. Last month’s  median was the highest for any month since December 2007, when it was $425,000.  “The median’s 9.1 percent year-over-year gain in August was the highest in three months. But it also marked the third consecutive month with a single-digit annual increase following 22 months of double-digit year-over-year gains as high as 28.3 percent.”[Read more at DQNews.com] Notice the pattern here.  The number of homes sold is dropping, but the median sale price is rising.

 

We discussed mean vs. median in regards to income inequality last week, so I don’t need to remind you what it means. Half the homes sold in Southland last month went for $420,000 or more.

 

This indicates that there is still plenty of demand for high-end Southland homes. Yet, the number of such homes sold dropped considerably in the last year from 23,057 in August 2013 to 18,796 in August 2014.

 

Sales volume is slowing in the Bay Area as well with median prices actually falling in August. Here’s DQNews.com again.

“The number of Bay Area homes that sold last month declined again  as potential buyers continued to struggle with constrained supply, tricky  mortgage availability and affordability issues. ‘The median price paid for a Bay Area home dropped somewhat, as it usually does from July to August,’ a real  estate information service reported.

 

“A total of 7,578 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was down 10.6 percent from 8,474 in July and down 12.0 percent from 8,616 in August last year, according to CoreLogic  DataQuick data.

 

“August sales have varied from 6,688 in August 1992 to 13,940 in  August 2004. The average since 1988, when CoreLogic DataQuick’s statistics began  is 9,526.

 

“The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area was  $607,000 in August. That was down 1.6 percent from $617,000 in July, and up 12.4 percent from $540,000 in August a year ago. A seasonal late-summer decline in median price is normal in the Bay Area. The Bay Area’s median sale price peaked at $665,000 in June and July 2007, then dropped to a low of $290,000 in March 2009.” [Read more at DQNews,com]

 

The story tries to sound optimistic, but if I owned Bay Area real estate, I think it would make me  nervous. The average August since 1988 saw 9,526 homes sold, but this year it was only 7,578. That’s almost 21% below normal.

 

We can’t blame all this on slowing Chinese demand, but that may well be part of it. The country’ National Statistics Bureau reported over the weekend that home sales in China  slowed 10.5% in the first eight months of 2014.

 

We may be facing a longer-term change in the housing market. The millennial generation, those now aged 25-35, show little interest in (or ability to afford) buying their own  homes. That age group was once the prime market for first-time home purchases.

 

Homeownership as a percentage of the population peaked in 2004-2005, and has been dropping  steadily ever since. The trend was already well underway before the last recession hit.

 

Source: Brad Hoppmann, Publisher, Uncommon Wisdom Daily