by Calculated Risk on 3/18/2011 02:53:00 PM

From DataQuick: California February Home Sales

An estimated 27,320 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was down 1.4 percent from 27,706 in January, and down 2.8 percent from 28,111 for February 2010. California sales for the month of February have varied from a low of 20,153 in 2008 to a high of 48,409 in 2004, while the average is 32,117.
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Distressed property sales made up nearly 60 percent of California’s resale market last month.

Of the existing homes sold in February, 40.1 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from 40.4 percent in January and down from 44.3 percent in February 2010. The all-time high was 58.5 percent in February 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.9 percent of resales last month. That was up from an estimated 18.7 percent in January, 17.6 percent a year earlier, and 11.2 percent two years ago.

The number of distressed sales is worth repeating: nearly 60% of existing home sales in California were distressed in February. We are a long way from normal. Short sales are continuing to increase as a percent of all sales (short sales are one way to do principal reductions, although the seller needs to make sure all lenders agree not to pursue the borrower for any deficiency).

Note: Economist Tom Lawler is forecasting the NAR will report existing home sales of around 5 million (SAAR) for February. The NAR is scheduled to report February sales on Monday, March 21st at 10 AM.