The Los Angeles Times reported today (“Home Sales Slump in July” – Business section) that SoCal saw a 21.4% drop in sales between July/2010 and July/2009. Is that true for our area? NO! Sales in Ventura and Camarillo were UP in that year over year comparison, while Oxnard was in fact down. General media headlines can be unsettling, but Ventura home sales are NOT like the Inland Empire, et al, so when reading the headlines, dig a little bit deeper and check out our statistics for the truth!

Sold prices for single family homes in Ventura and Camarillo are on the rise while Oxnard remains unchanged. Sold prices for condos for all 3 cities is downward. The number of sold single family homes in Ventura and Camarillo is rather flat and Oxnard is down.

The monthly and quarterly charts and detailed stats for July are in for Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo. The quarterly charts end with June data and the 12 month charts are for the last 12 months. The graphs are in Adobe.pdf format.  To preview the charts read more… Read the rest of this article »

At the beginning of every month we check to see how many homes are on the market for sale – and the numbers are increasing. Here are the numbers. A lot has to do with the end of the $8,000 federal tax credit, but even with interest rates at all time lows, this build up of inventory means the economy is still sputtering along. On the other hand, we’re starting to see an apparent decline in the number of  foreclosures in the County which is a good thing.

The updated Ventura County foreclosure stats for July are in and the chart can be previewed by clicking here. You can also preview the quarterly chart ending with June ’10 going back quarterly since 2005.

The first stage of foreclosure is the Notice of Default where the borrower has 3 months to bring any back payments current. For July, the number of defaults is holding steady at about 500 for the month.

The second stage is the Notice of Trustee Sales when a sale date is set. The number of NTSs for July is down from the spike in June to the mid-500s.

The third stage is the Trustee Deeds where the property has gone back to the bank or investor bought. The number for July is on a slight downward trend in the low 200s.