Moderating home price appreciation and improving housing inventory combined to spur California’s housing market in February as existing home sales increased from both the previous month and year. Existing, single-family home sales totaled 393,360 in February on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, up 2.6 percent from January and 6.4 percent above February 2015
Two years ago, Mike Saavedra moved to Southern California, equipped with a new high-paying healthcare job and a plan. The former Arizona resident would rent by the beach while becoming familiar with neighborhoods where he may want to purchase a house. But a few months after starting his search, the Manhattan Beach renter cut it off. It was, he decided, the wrong time to buy. “I definitely think home prices are slightly overinflated,” Saavedra, 48, said. And he thinks there’s a good chance they’ll fall. “I would kind of like to wait and see if that happens.” After nearly seven years of sometimes fevered price hikes, the Southern California housing market has slowed markedly in recent months. Sales have fallen from year-ago levels and price appreciation has shrunk. In Los Angeles and Orange counties, year-over-year price increases peaked at 8.2% in April and have declined every month since. In October, home prices in those counties rose 5.5...
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