The northern Los Angeles submarket of Santa Clarita Valley is unlikely to see a rise in home sales activity or median prices during the coming months.
The market, which primarily includes the city of Santa Clarita, population 213,000, has seen sales activity and prices drop since peaks were reached in July and May, respectively.
According to the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, a total of 298 single-family homes and condos traded hands in October.
Single-family homes accounted for 205 of these sales. This total was down 2.4 percent from September; however, it does represent the eighth month this year where more than 200 homes have sold. The submarket reached its peak in July when 255 single-family homes sold.
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Currently the market’s biggest limitations are inventory and rising affordability concerns, according to Bob Khalsa, president of the Santa Clarita Division of SRAR.
Last month the median price of a sold home stood at $500,000, down $30,000 from May, when the market’s median price reached its highest level since October 2007.
“Demand remains healthy, but what we need now are more active listings, particularly in entry level and mid-range price categories,” added Jim Link, CEO of SRAR.
Including condos, inventory currently sits at two months of supply, 595 total listings. Of those listings, 486 are single family.
At the end of October, there were 306 open escrows, which was down 5.6 percent from the 324 pending sales reported in October 2014. This indicates that sales activity in Santa Clarita will be down in November on a month-over-month and year-to-year basis.
Of the 298 sales that occurred last month, 93.3 percent were standard sales involving traditional buyers and sellers.
