SoCal homebuilders averaging one sale per month

Thanks to Regional Sales Director Greg Doyle at new home data provider Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, I've got some great stats to share for the first two months of 2008 versus the same time of 2007 as well as the last 12-month period for Southern California. Greg, who comes to Hanley Wood with a considerable background in homebuilding and analysis, oversees the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura and Kern, and can be reached at 310-791-6157 x 201 or gdoyle@hanleywood.com.

For January and February of 2008, net sales fell by over 60% from last year to under 3,000 homes, although single-story condos performed worse (-68%) than townhomes (-53%) and single-family homes (-59%).

One big reason for the fall? Cancellation rates, which spiked up to 20% versus 12% last year. Consequently, average sales per project now average just 1.01 per month versus 2.58 a year ago (hence the industry layoffs).

Median asking prices fell by 13% from a year ago to $421,990 versus $485,900, although condo prices actually rose by nearly 5%; townhome/duplex prices plummeted by 26% and single-family asking prices are down by 15% from the first two months of last year.

Declines in the median asking price per square foot closely tracked total prices except for condos, which fell by less than 1% to $399 versus over 17% to $204 for all sectors combined.

Although the number of unsold new homes under construction has fallen by 20% from a year ago, as homes are finished up they become known as "standing inventory," and that category has risen by nearly 66% from a year ago, with standing townhomes/duplexes up by nearly 133%.

Want to see the entire Summary Statistics report for Southern California? Visit the reSOURCES section of the MetroIntelligence website (free registration required).

Want to know more about the data that Hanley Wood collects? Contact Greg Doyle for Los Angeles/Ventura/Kern, Catherine La Femina for San Diego/Orange County or Kathryn Boyce for Northern California. You can find all contact numbers for the various offices here.