NATIONALLY AND LOCALLY, EXISTING HOMES BOUNCE BACK DESPITE LOW INVENTORY

Resale housing saw an increase of 14.7% comparing month over month (November 2015, the most current, complete month available), and 7.7% year over year for 2014 compared to 2015.  According to the National  Association of Realtors (NAR), these increases were in spite of historically low inventory.  As stated before in this column, a 6 month supply of housing inventory is deemed a "normal" market.  Currently the country is at 3.9% and the Southland here is a bit lower.  In fact, the country is down 12.3% from a year ago (We currently have approximately 4,300 homes for sale).  The current sales trend, which has huge traction when you consider we have now gone 46 consecutive months with gains, comparing each month with the same month the previous year, continues to show a strong economy and still burgeoning demand.  The national median home price is $224,100, which is probably enough to make a Southern California homebuyer cry just a little.   However, to ease the blow, let's remember when you buy that property for $200,000 in Kansas, you're still in Kansas when escrow closes.  Just a little real estate humor, making the point that, So Cal offers a lifestyle and weather that is pretty hard to beat.  Not only are homes selling, but they're not taking very long to do so; case in point is the national average of "days on market" is 58 days, but 32% sell in less than a month.  Nationally distressed homes comprised only 8% of total escrows, a number that continues to decline monthly.  Certainly there are things happening globally right now with China's economy and the absorption of Syrian refugees into European economies that will have some local impact economically.  Whether housing will be one of those, or will stay as resilient as it has been, remains to be seen.  Fortunately, population increases and new households continue to fuel demand and with money remaining cheap, and likely to stay that way (in the 4% range, hard to say that would be a buyer's concern), consumer confidence is likely to be key.  How good are people feeling about their prospects?  As was written on a blackboard of a 1990's political campaign office..."it's the economy, stupid."