October 13, 2011 (Jeff Alan)
Prices for condominiums in California’s metro areas continued a year-long decline in July and the lack of a seasonal “bump” is a sure sign that prices will weaken even further in the fall according to Standard & Poor’s.
Monthly condo prices in Los Angeles were flat in July and in San Francisco condo prices declined by 1.1 percent according the S&P/Case-Shiller Index. That follows a 0.5 percent price decline in June in Los Angeles and a 0.8 percent decline in San Francisco.
The price declines in June and July look especially bad because they occurred during a time of anticipated seasonal strength.
When looking back at monthly prices over the last year, things begin to look much worse. In Los Angeles, condo prices have fallen in 11 of the last 12 months, and that’s in addition to July’s flat sales. Condo prices in the area are 7.5 percent lower than July 2010.
In San Francisco, over those same 12 months, condo prices have fallen 10 times leaving prices 9.4 percent lower than July 2010.
The near year-long decline has put average market prices back to the mid-2003 levels.
Along with the two California locations, S&P also tracks condo prices in Chicago, Boston, and New York. Compared to their California counterparts, these three areas have seen general improvement since April 2011.
In July, monthly prices increased 0.7 percent in Boston and New York while in Chicago, prices increased by 1.8 percent. Year-over-year prices in Boston are only 0.6 percent lower than they were in July 2010 and New York’s prices are 0.3 percent higher.
The two California markets have also suffered much higher price declines since their market peak price.
Condo prices in Los Angeles have declined 39.0 percent since its market peak in July 2006, while San Francisco’s prices have declined 32.9 percent since its peak.
Whereas in New York, condo prices have declined 13.8 percent since its peak in February 2006 and Boston’s decline has been 11.3 percent since its peak.
Tags: California, condo prices, S&P, Case-Shiller Index, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, New York, market prices
Source:
S&P
