Report: Median home price in Bakersfield rises $9,000 in a month
| Friday, Nov 06 2009 02:40 PM
Last Updated Friday, Nov 06 2009 02:40 PM
Loading Stories
Advertisement
The median sale price of existing homes in Bakersfield rose $9,000 in October from the previous month, according to figures compiled by a local appraiser.
That increase from $130,000 in September to $139,000 in October represents a nearly 7 percent month-over-month jump, but is still 13.1 percent lower than the same time last year, Gary Crabtree wrote in The Preliminary Crabtree Report. A year ago, the median sale price of an existing home was $160,000.
"The preliminary October statistics bode very well for the Bakersfield market," Crabtree said in his closely-watched report.
He characterized the market as stable, noting that in October there was about the same inventory, percentage of distressed listings, closed sales and foreclosures as in September.
Among his observations:
* Unsold inventory is stable at two months.
* There were 1,239 active listings in October, up slightly from the 1,214 in September. But there was a 59.2 percent decline year-over-year.
* The percentage of distressed listings -- lender owned, corporate owned or short sales -- was nearly unchanged month to month, but was down 18.5 percent compared with a year ago.
* The existing home sales total was 620 in October; it was 610 in September. Sales were up 3.3 percent year-over-year.
* Foreclosure sales stayed stable, at 672 in October, compared with September's 676. Year-over-year, they increased by 29.2 percent.
"In my daily travels throughout the city, I continue to observe fewer 'for sale' signs, more 'pending and contingent' signs, but still almost every neighborhood has a few vacant and/or abandoned homes giving rise to speculation that 'we are a long way from the end of this housing crisis,'" Crabtree wrote.
