Well, the housing market may have burst, but the years of upside in the Southern California housing market have provided enough strength to keep home sellers happy, even at today’s ridiculous prices.
So happy in fact, that the average homeowner who sold their home in Southern California made nearly double what they bought their home for. Yes, you read that right, double!
Christopher Cagan, head of the real estate research division at title company First American Corp., came up with some amazing sales figures for the month of October.
According to his research, the average profit in Orange County was $331,000, $266,000 in Los Angeles county, $243,000 in San Diego county, $203,500 in San Bernardino county, and $178,000 in Riverside county as compared to their previous sales price.
His research also noted that San Diego homeowners who sold their home earned 91% profit, while Riverside residents earned 80%! Cha-ching!
These figures show the strength of the housing market in Southern California, which has slumped in the last year or so, but clearly has hung on to a large chunk of its gains from the last several fruitful years.
This is great news for the housing market, and a great way to keep the recent slump in perspective. Many homeowners are still not satisfied with the current sales market, mainly because of the dip in prices, and the fact that prices already peaked, and profits are less than what they could have been.
But the bottom line is that many homeowners still made like bandits, and should be more than satisfied with the current upside in the value of their homes despite any recent pullbacks.
The only problem now is whether homeowners will continue to have luck selling their homes in a increasingly strong buyer’s market. And if they can put greed aside and lock in a great profit.
One other issue might be home equity – do these homeowners have any, or did they do one too many cash-out refinances over the years?