California was 2nd Best Among Nationwide Real Estate Sales (OC Register)

How bad of a summer was it for real estate nationwide? Well, you know it wasn’t pretty in California!

Best states	Sales Q3	Qtr. Chg.	Year chg.
Nevada	87,200	-6.4%	-17.4%
California	439,600	-7.3%	-13.0%
Virginia	103,200	-12.8%	-17.0%
Florida	350,000	-13.9%	-1.0%
Georgia	148,800	-13.9%	-15.8%
Worst states	Sales Q3	Qtr. Chg.	Year chg.
Alaska	16,800	-38.2%	-26.3%
Nebraska	24,400	-39.0%	-33.0%
Iowa	41,200	-41.8%	-29.5%
North Dakota	9,200	-43.9%	-34.3%
Minnesota	60,800	-45.7%	-37.4%
Nationwide	Sales Q3	Qtr. Chg.	Year chg.
Total	4,163,000	-25.3%	-21.2%

New Realtor data shows that California single-family home re-sales fell 7.3% from the second quarter to the third quarter as a federal tax break for buyers expired. That left California home-buying’s pace 13% below a year ago.

However, that 7.3% quarter-to-quarter decline in California was the second best performance — yes, B-E-S-T — among the states.

Only Nevada — down 6.4% — fared any better. Hardest hit state was Minnesota, off 46% in those three months alone! Nationwide, it was a 25% tumble.

Perhaps California’s advantage — if we can call this a plus — was the tax break (worth up to $8,000) was likely not a major deal to our house shoppers. So any springtime home surge created by shoppers’ desires to qualify for the tax break — as we heard of elsewhere — was not a major factor. Still, considering all the real estate angst around this region, you can see why people are REALLY worried about housing elsewhere!

Curiously, here’s another snapshot of how things have changed: Our state’s recent relative recent “strength” makes California 11% of the U.S housing market, by single-family homes resold — largest share of any state. That’s up from 6% near the market’s peak in 2007.