09/18/2015
Today at 12:58 PM
SoCal Home Market “Normalizing”
Southern Calfornia’s housing market continued a normalizing trend in August, prompting cheers from analysts who said the market in on the path for long term sustainability. The figures, release on Wednesday by real estate Corelogic, saw slowing price appreciation even as sales continued to rise – a course that has been evident most of the year.
“The housing market is normalizing,” said Esmael Adibi, drector of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University. “It’s very good news”. Adibi said demand is now being driven by fundamentals such as job creation – not investors flush with cash – and predicted the market is on the path for sustainable growth. In July, California added 80,700 new jobs, the largest monthly employment gain in the last year. Southern California home prices are likely to climb 3% to 4% in 2016, buoyed by continued job growth, he said.
Stuart Garbriel, director of UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate, said that even if the Federal Reserves decides Thursday to raise its short-term interest rate, there will be minimal effect on housing demand, because any increases are likely to be small and made slowly.
For now, the improving economy has helped boost sales nationally too, as more families have confidence to make what is often the biggest purchase of their lifetimes, economists said. In July, sales of U.S. previously owned homes reached an eight year high. And Wednesday, the National Assn. of Home Builders reported single-family-home haven’t been this confident since before the housing crash last decade.
Business Section, Los Angeles Times
September 17, 2015