Talking Points …
- According to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.), seasonal factors, combined with shrinking housing affordability, cooled California pending home sales from both the previous month and year in November.
- C.A.R.’s Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) indicates that pending home sales dropped 13.6 percent in November to 93.8, down from a revised 108.6 in October, based on signed contracts. Pending sales were down 9.4 percent from the 103.5 index recorded in November 2012.
- Distressed sales were down by nearly two-thirds from a year ago, when the share was 35.4 percent. Twenty-one of the 38 reported counties showed a month-to-month decrease in the share of distressed sales, with Santa Clara County having the lowest share at 4 percent.