by Calculated Risk on 8/13/2014 01:33:00 PM

From DataQuick: Southland Home Sales Fall Yr/Yr Again; Prices Rise at Slower Pace

Southern California home sales fell to a three-year low for the month of July as supply continued to fall short of demand, some buyers struggled with higher prices, and investor activity fell. Cash deals declined to the lowest level in more than four years ...

A total of 20,369 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 1.4 percent from 20,654 sales in June, and down 12.4 percent from 23,253 sales in July 2013, according to Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick. ...

On average, sales have declined 6.3 percent between June and July since 1988, when CoreLogic DataQuick statistics begin. Southland sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 10 consecutive months. Sales during the month of July have ranged from a low of 16,225 in July 1995 to a high of 38,996 in July 2003. Last month’s sales were 19.4 percent below the July average of 25,269 sales.
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Foreclosure resales – homes foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 5.2 percent of the Southland resale market last month. That was down from a revised 5.3 percent the prior month and down from 7.7 percent a year earlier. In recent months the foreclosure resale rate has been the lowest since early 2007. In the current cycle, foreclosure resales hit a high of 56.7 percent in February 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 5.9 percent of Southland resales last month. That was down from a revised 6.0 percent the prior month and down from 12.7 percent a year earlier.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 23.6 percent of the Southland homes sold last month. That was the lowest share since December 2010, when 23.4 percent of homes sold to absentee buyers. Last month’s 23.6 percent absentee share was down from a revised 23.9 percent in June and down from 27.4 percent a year earlier. ...
emphasis added

Both distressed sales and investor buying is declining - and this has been dragging down overall sales.  Even though total sales are down 12.4% year-over-year, the percent of non-distressed sales was only down about 2% year-over-year. 

The NAR is scheduled to release existing home sales for July on Thursday, August 21st.