DECLINE IN DISTRESSED SALES HELPS SPUR HOUSING MARKET.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer Fewer distressed sales and a rekindling of equity are adding up to make 1998 one of the best housing markets on record, a trade group said Wednesday. The end result is ``for sale'' signs are staying up for a shorter duration this year than any time since 1989 as the spread between the asking price and sale price narrows, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. this year's version of the California Housing Finance Survey by the California Association of Realtors. ``Homes are selling faster and at a smaller discount than at any other time since the 1980s,'' said Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Realtor Tim Corliss, the trade group's president. For example, the median price discount, the difference between the initial asking price and final sale price, was 1.6 percent when the survey was conducted this summer. That's the lowest margin since the survey began in 1981. At the same time, homes stayed on the market an average of four weeks, the shortest time since 1989, the group said. That's half the sales time in last year's study. This year also has seen return buyers flocking back to the market. Of the homes sold, 58 percent went to repeat buyers. That's just a little less than the 60 percent recorded last year but more than in 1996 and 1995. Between 1993 and 1995, the state's housing market was dominated by first-time buyers who flocked to the market as prices fell, in part because of the large number of distressed sales. Distressed sales include the selling of repossessed properties, short sales (in which the home is sold for less than the loan balance) and sales to stave off foreclosure foreclosure Legal proceeding by which a borrower's rights to a mortgaged property may be extinguished if the borrower fails to live up to the obligations agreed to in the loan contract. . They accounted for 8.3 percent of this year's purchases, down from 13.2 percent in 1997, the report said. G.U. Krueger, the association's deputy chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the , said the annual report is a snapshot of how the state's real estate market will perform throughout the year. It shows a definite build up of equity. The median price statewide in the 1998 survey was $205,000, an increase of 7.9 percent from a year ago. And the increasing equity can be found across the state. ``The biggest appreciation clearly is in Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern but from other data we have from around the state is that it has clearly moved to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, ,'' said Krueger. Indeed, Orange County may supplant sup·plant tr.v. sup·plant·ed, sup·plant·ing, sup·plants 1. To usurp the place of, especially through intrigue or underhanded tactics. 2. Santa Clara Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. County in terms of prices gains and Los Angeles County is approaching double-digit growth, he said. |
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