by Calculated Risk on 12/17/2020 01:32:00 PM

The CAR reported: Low rates, flexibility to work from home drive California home-buying interest to levels not seen since the last decade, C.A.R. reports

efying an otherwise struggling economy, California home sales remained red hot in November, breaking the 500,000 sales benchmark for the first time since January 2009 and reaching the highest level in 15 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) said today.

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 508,820 units in November, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2020 if sales maintained the November pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.

November sales rose 5.0 percent from 484,510 in October and were up 26.3 percent from a year ago, when 402,880 homes were sold on an annualized basis. The year-over-year, double-digit sales gain was the fourth consecutive and the largest yearly gain since May 2009.
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On a year-to-date basis, sales in the Central Coast region has already surpassed 2019’s level by 4.3 percent, while Southern California (-0.7 percent), the San Francisco Bay Area (-1.2 percent), the Central Valley (-1.5 percent) and the Far North (-2.6 percent) continued to trail slightly behind last year’s level.
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With a resurgence in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks and the market entering the traditional holiday season, active listings declined from the prior month as expected, contributing to a substantial decline in inventory. Active listings fell 46.6 percent from last year and continued to drop more than 40 percent on a year-over-year basis for the sixth straight month. The Unsold Inventory Index (UII) fell sharply from 3.1 months in November 2019 to 1.9 months this November. The index indicates the number of months it would take to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current rate of sales.
emphasis added

CR Note: Existing home sales are reported when the transaction closes, so this was mostly for contracts signed in September and October.