Mortgage and home sales news from LAnews today

Sales fell in all six Southern California counties last month compared with a year earlier, ranging from a 13.5% drop in Ventura County to a 26% decline in Orange County. Still, there was enough demand to send prices a bit higher in all counties.

A clearer picture should emerge in the traditional spring buying season. And some agents say demand is already seeing a bit of a boost, following a recent pullback in mortgage rates.

December’s report, with its large sales decline and meager price appreciation, reflects sales that closed escrow in December. That means many buyers signed contracts in October and November when rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage were at a recent high. Since the peak, rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage have fallen by 0.49 percentage point to an average 4.45% last week, according to Freddie Mac.

The number of closed deals fell 20.3% compared with a year earlier, hitting the lowest level for a December since the start of the Great Recession and marking the sharpest percentage drop since 2010, according to a report out Wednesday from CoreLogic. The 12-month price increase is the smallest since prices started […]

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