Southern California Housing Market Is Finally Cooling Down -- Or Is It?
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- Here is some good news for anyone looking for a house in some areas of Southern California.
The housing market has finally cooled down. Not exactly icy cold but cooling somewhat.
CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Jeff Nguyen spoke to some agents and real estate developers during this cooling off period.
"We blew out this wall. There was a wall here before," says Jim Likens, a real estate developer.
He just remodeled a three-bedroom, two-bath condo in the San Fernando Valley.
Likens said he's been unable to close a deal on the property -- similar properties were closing faster than you can say "escrow" and not long ago.
Now? Not so much.
"This property has been on the market now for roughly two months," Likens says.
He says there was a time when homes would get snatched up the very first day they hit the market.
Across Southern California, stats revealed a slight dip in the housing market last month – compared to the same time last year.
It's the first annual decrease in seven years.
Realtor Jennifer Castaneda says she's also lately been seeing more offers coming in at below the asking price.
"There's a lot of the going back and forth with negotiating. A couple of years ago – they were coming at asking or above," says Castaneda.
To be fair, last month's dip was about one-tenth of a percent – according to CoreLogic.
And it wasn't across all of Southern California.
In fact -- the drop in median pricing was in Orange County -- where Castaneda recently closed a deal in Costa Mesa.
"People really loved the home. But they would come back and say they'd wanted it at a much lower price," says Castaneda.
According to Zillow, there were 24 percent more homes for sale in LA County last month than in March 2018.
In Orange County, listings rose by 40 percent.
"I'm going to hope for the best and expect the worst. So Things seem to be picking up for the summertime," Likens said.
