Department Name

San Fernando Valley year-over-year home sales continue a seventeen month sequence of increases over the prior year.  This month’s sales number is up 12.8 percent over the sales number a year ago.  New and existing home sales are down 34.3 percent from the December 2009 level of 1687.  This one-month drop is seasonal.   January and February are traditionally slow home sales months.

                                                January 2010                  December 2009                 January 2009
SFV Home Sales                              1108                                1687                                 982
12 month Change                             12.8%

The Valley’s median price of a single-family shows a modest upward creep.  Median prices have increased an average 1.4 percent per month since reaching a low of $347,500 in March 2009.  January 2010’s median price of $398,750 is UP 13.3 percent from the January 2009 price of $352,000.  This is the second sequential month of median price increases over the prior year.  There is no significant change in any of the seven broad Valley areas that we track.  The median price increase results from an increase in sales in higher priced Valley areas.

                                                January 2010                  December 2009                 January 2009   
SFV Median Price                        $398,750                           $400,000                          $352,000
12 month Change                            13.3%

Notices of Default (NODs) in January 2010, at 972, are DOWN 40.9 percent from January 2009.  This is the second sequential month of declines from the prior year’s numbers.  Over the past 10 months, NODs have declined on average 8.5 percent per month.  This extended downward trend in NODs is good evidence that the turmoil in the housing market has diminished.

                                                January 2010                  December 2009                 January 2009
SFV NODs                                         972                                 1016                                 1644       
12 month Change                           - 40.9%

November foreclosures, at 507, are DOWN 10.7 percent from the January 2009 level.  While December 2009 showed a typical year end upward bump to 660 foreclosures, there has been a downward trend in foreclosures from the Valley’s peak of 919 in June 2009.  This downward trend is consistent with the trend that followed the housing slump that ended in 1997.  The largest foreclosure areas continue to be Pacoima and Olive View.

                                                January 2010                  December 2009                 January 2009
SFV Foreclosures                            507                                    660                                  568
12 month Change                         - 10.7%
LA County Foreclosures                   2,294                                 2,890                                2,518                        
12 month change                            - 8.9%