Southern California Home Sales - "The luxury market was the first to recover from the housing downturn, and now it’s a bellwether of slowing price growth for the rest of the market. Sales at the top end of the market continue to soar, but prices are downshifting ..."

Southern California Home Sales:
Luxury Home Prices Fall Nationwide

Southern California Home Sales Are Among Most Drastically Effected

This week we've been taking a look at California home sales in 2015 and 2016. We've been highlighting how Southern California home sales have performed this year and what to expect from the California real estate market in the coming year. In general, we're looking at a housing market that is growing in sales and value, but at a slower rate than before. In short, we appear to be experiencing a "rest" in the market. All in all, that's a good thing. There is one section of the California Homes for Sale market, however, that is not performing like the rest. Prices of Luxury homes fell during the 2nd half of 2015 for the first time since 2012. Over at Redfin, they have been analyzing this and have come up with some very interesting numbers. As you can see from the chart above, Los Angeles is among the hardest hit areas as far as falling prices of luxury homes. There are several causes for this, and one is the slowdown of activity from foreign investors. Here in the San Gabriel Valley we've noticed a distinct pull-back of activity since the fall of the Chinese stock market and the crackdown of the Chinese government on money being invested overseas. With that slowdown, prices began to pull back in an effort to attract buyers. Check out this detailed article by Alina Ptaszynski over at Redfin. We'll conclude our analysis after the jump.

Luxury Home Prices Fell This Summer for the First Time Since 2012 | Redfin

Redfin Blog

"Home prices in the luxury market fell 2.2 percent in the third quarter compared to last year, the first time prices for the nation’s most expensive homes have fallen since the first quarter of 2012. The luxury market, which we identify as the priciest 5 percent, was shown up by the bottom 95 percent, where prices grew 3.8 percent over the same period. The bottom 95 percent of the market has seen consistent price growth of around 4 percent in each of the past four quarters."

Read More Here: https://www.redfin.com/blog/2015/12/home-prices-in-the-luxury-market-fell-this-summer-for-the-first-time-since-2012.html

Southern California Home Sales: Is Luxury Real Estate A Leading Indicator?

As I mentioned in earlier posts this week, there are a few ... not many, but a few ... analysts of the real estate market who are convinced that we are currently experiencing another "real estate bubble", and that prices and activity are both about to fall. One of the things that they point to is the recent decline in prices in the area of Luxury homes. The upper end of the market has long been considered a "leading indicator" for the rest of the market. The top 5% market area was among the first to recover. Could this recent drop in prices among luxury homes signify a coming downturn in the rest of the market as well? Personally, I don't subscribe to the extremely pessimistic view of some. All markets adjust. No market simply moves upwards in a straight line. No market moves downwards in a straight line. Whichever way the market trend is going, there will be "retracements" and "market adjustments" along the way. What's more important than these adjustments, is the trend itself. This market action among Luxury Homes is certainly a heavy adjustment, but it falls far short of signifying a trend reversal. The Southern California Home Sales market ... along with real estate in the rest of the nation ... is on an upward trend. The fact is that Luxury Home prices had become very inflated and overblown by last June, and they have adjusted over the last few months. The rest of the market may be a bit overpriced, but not to that degree. Yes, we may see some adjustment in prices throughout the rest of the market over the next few months, but it's not the bursting of a "bubble". It's not the reversal of the current trend. It's the normal activity of a healthy market making needed adjustments, and after a brief pull-back the upward trend should continue. Southern California Home Sales.