March 18, 2011 (Jeff Alan)

California home sales continued to slide with an estimated 27,320 new and resale homes and condos sold statewide in February according to DataQuick. It was the lowest amount of sales since February 2008. Sales were down 1.4 percent from January and 2.8 percent from February of 2010.

The median price paid for a home was $244,000, up 2.1 percent from $239,000 in January but down 2.0 percent from $249,000 in February of 2010. On a year-over-year basis, the state’s median price has fallen for five consecutive months.

Distressed properties made up nearly 60 percent of all sales. The amount of foreclosed sales actually dropped to 40.1 percent, which was down from 40.4 percent in January, but short sales made just over 18 percent of all transactions, which was up from 17.6 percent the previous year, and up from 11.2 percent from two years ago.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,033. That was up from $999 in January, and down from $1,068 in February 2010. Mortgage rates in February were also slightly higher breaking the 5 percent mark before slipping back down the past few weeks.

Tags: DataQuick, California home sales, median home price, distressed properties, short sales, mortgage payment