California Real Estate’s Spring Progress Report Shows Signs of Improvement

     It’s been too long since I have been able to report uplifting news as it pertains to the California real estate market.  So it is with great pleasure I present this article to you all, chalked full of statistical evidence documenting a real estate market slowly on the rise.  It almost makes me feel like I am back in elementary school showing my parents an encouraging Progress Report, unlike in months past where the lackluster California real estate statistics would equate to the times I exerted all efforts to conceal unsatisfactory teacher remarks.

      According to the trusted source ForeclosureRadar, for example, foreclosure numbers fell quite dramatically last month.  With the number of foreclosure sales making up a lower share of the market, home prices received the boost we were all looking for, as foreclosures and short sales are predisposed to sell at a markdown.  C.A.R. Newsline similarly reported that in California, “the total share of all distressed property types sold statewide decreased in April to 42.0 percent, down from March’s 45.5 percent and from 47.7 percent in April 2011.”  When it comes to the percentage of foreclosures as a share in the market, the old saying certainly olds true… less is more!

     It has also been reported that the number of homes currently on the market has dropped.  As a result, the homes left listed on the active market are becoming enveloped in more intensive bidding wars, now that competing buyers have less inventory to choose from. California Association of Realtors President LeFrancis Arnold remarked that “The tight inventory we’ve been experiencing in the distressed market over the past several months is now spreading to equity properties, essentially affecting the supply conditions of both the distressed and non-distressed markets.” The more rampant and the more intensive these bidding wars become, the better. 

     A quick glance to the future may similarly show further market improvements.  Mortgage Banker Association’s Vice President of Research and Economics Michael Fratantoni announced that “Newer delinquencies, loans one payment past due as of March 31, are down to the lowest level since the middle of 2007, indicating fewer new problems we will need to deal with in the future.” 

I’m not one to count my chickens before they hatch, but if I add up all of the above:

1. foreclosure sales making up a lower share of the market

2. tightened inventory creating more intensive bidding wars

3. new loan delinquency figures are at the lowest levels since 2007…

     It just may mean California and the national real estate market at large may have finally turned the corner.  No doubt there is still much room for improvement, and it still remains iffy whether home prices will ever climb back to the peaks seen in 2006 – early 2007, but at least statistical evidence has some bright spots.  So if these statistics find themselves on the Spring Progress Report, just maybe we can keep the momentum going and produce a solid Final Report Card heading into summer break.  Only then could we metaphorically characterize the real estate market as the student deserving summer vacation as a reward for a job well done, as opposed to the slacker needing summer school to wise up.