by Calculated Risk on 10/13/2011 07:30:00 PM

Existing home sales for September will be released on Thursday Oct 20th.

From DataQuick: Southland Home Sales Up – Barely – from Year Ago, Median Price Dips Again

A total of 18,149 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in September. That was down 7.7 percent from 19,654 in August and up 0.3 percent from 18,091 in September 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

It’s normal for home sales to drop between August and September, partly because many home buyers try to close their deals before school starts in late summer.
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Last month’s sales were 25.3 percent below the September average of 24,310 transactions since 1988.
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“Last month’s Southland sales weren’t great but, like some other economic indicators of late, they came in a bit higher than some might have expected. Holding steady with a year ago isn’t so bad when you consider the hits the housing market has taken in recent months ...” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.
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Foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – made up 32.3 percent of the Southland resale market in September, down from 32.4 percent in August and 33.6 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest since January 2008, when foreclosure resales were 28.6 percent. They peaked at 56.7 percent in February 2009.

Short sales, where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property, made up an estimated 18.5 percent of Southland resales last month. That was up from 17.5 percent in August and 16.1 percent a year ago. Two years ago the estimate was 15.3 percent.
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Southland buyers paying cash accounted for 28.5 percent of total September home sales, paying a median $210,000.

So 32.3 percent were foreclosure resales and 18.5 percent were short sales - over 50% were distressed sales in September.