A December jump for home sales is certainly not bad news for Southern California real estate markets, but not necessarily a sign of an energetic resurgence in either sales volumes or prices.
"We're doing extremely well, but I don't think the market is doing that well," said Darryl Spellacy, owner of San Bernardino-based Spellacy and Associates Realtors. "It is moving, but it is moving very slow." Spellacy said his own confidence stems from nearly four decades' worth of contacts at his firm leading to referrals and repeat business. In a broader sense, however, he is not counting on any dramatic upswings this year for Southern California real estate.
His view of a still-sluggish housing market roughly mirrors the analysis at DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based company that tracks real estate values. The word from DataQuick is that the real estate markets often jump a bit from November to December because investors try to close deals before year's end.
Taking that into account, the marketplace is still affected by many of the conditions that existed last year, such as the relative difficulty for buyers to obtain credit and investors purchasing homes at the low end of the price spectrum. That does not mean, however, that prices are destined for a fall.
"Some of the economic vital signs have improved lately and it's sparked a renewed sense of optimism in housing circles," DataQuick President John Walsh said in a statement. "Coupled with incredibly low mortgage rates, it certainly suggests that 2012 might offer the rock bottom for pricing that many buyers and sellers have been looking for."
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