South Bay Association of Realtors: South Bay housing market dips, but holds steady

As you can see, south bay home prices by some measures are still retaining their glorious gains from the bubble years. Here is the latest from SBAR (South Bay Association of Realtors).

The median single family home sale price in the South Bay in December 2007 was 
$741,500, a 14.3% increase over December 2006, while the median condominium/townhouse 
sale price was $510,000, representing a 2.9% decrease over December 2006, according 
to the South Bay Association of Realtors.

Market data for South Bay average house prices show a similar trend.  The average 
single family home price in December 2007 was $1,030,252, a 21.4% increase over 
December 2006, while the average condominium/townhouse sale price was $562,062, 
representing a 2% decrease over December 2006.  The average days-on-market was 58 
days, a slight decrease over December 2006.  Additionally, 254 homes soled in 
December 2007 (a 48% decrease over December 2006) and 837 homes sold in the fourth 
quarter of 2007 (a 44% decrease).

"While we are seeing some of the effects of the same downward markeet trend as is 
occurring elsewhere in California, the price of residential real estate has held 
steady or only dipped slightly in comparison," said Carol Olney, president of the 
South Bay Association of Realtors. "Although our sales volume is lower, South Bay 
home sales show a local housing market that is weathering the downturn better than 
are other markets, when we look beyond short-term and seasonal fluctuation."

The median single family home price has shown strong growth, up 15.9% since December 
2005.  The South Bay average home price has historically been much higher than the 
median price, which suggests the market is buoyed by high land values and home prices 
in the beach cities and Palos Verdes Peninsula submarkets.

The median single family home listing price is showing signs of decrease, however, 
down 6.9% over December 2006, and down 13.6% over December 2005.  The median 
condominium listing price has held more steady, showing an increase of 5.1% over 
December 2006 and a 4.6% increase over December 2005.  Nonetheless, both condominium 
and single family home listing prices have held steady when viewed through a 12 month 
moving average, which seeks to eliminate seasonal fluctuations.

Average days-on-market shows a steady climb throughout 2006 and 2007, with the 
exception of a dip toward the end of 2007.

This doesn't tell the whole story of course. Why would asking prices be down if everything was rosy?