“Rush to the Exits” paces strong July in North San Diego County real estate market

FALLBROOK – Time to sell a home in two popular North San Diego County markets dropped dramatically in July, Jerry Kalman, a Realtor® with HomeSmart Legends here, reported today.

“In July, Fallbrook and Bonsall homes sold on an average of 37 days while on the market, roughly 40 percent better than in June when it took 61 days and 42 percent faster than in July 2015,” he said. “And with a similar strong decline in time on the market for new escrows last month we can expect a continuing ‘rush to the exits’ pattern through August.”

After peaking in June, sales volume here dropped 16 percent from the prior month and by a comparable amount from July 2015. Average July selling prices in the two communities flattened out at $567,000, roughly the same as in the prior month and a year ago.

Kalman said that during July cash buyers represented barely one fifth of the transactions while VA/FHA came in at 28 percent of the volume.

“About one third of the sales were at or above the original asking price, with half of them occurring among conventional transactions,” he said.

The price of the homes entering escrow declined less than a percent to $612,000. Similarly, the number of escrows at 114 properties was flat as 73 homes came off the market in July.

“These overall July figures verify the seasonal slowdown in closing transactions we can expect as sales typically taper off going into the last half of 2016,” Kalman added, “however, the downward slope might not be as steep as in the past.”

Entering August, 233 homes here were in the active inventory, a slight increase over June. With a slowdown in activity, he expected that number of active properties to creep up, giving buyers more choices among mid-range and high-end homes.

He noted that the average selling price per square foot, an important metric used by many realtors to price homes in the area, was $241, a nominal two point drop from July, with Bonsall at $249 exceptionally strong for the third straight month based largely on the dearth of entry-level properties there.

At the high end, three homes sold above one million dollars, which added a marginal boost to the average selling price in the area. Entering August, 10 high-end homes were in escrow after an average market time of three months. Another 61 of these properties were in the active inventory, 45 in Fallbrook.

Four condominiums, all in Fallbrook, sold in July after an average of seven days on the market; and five condos, three in Bonsall, were in escrow after an average of 36 days. Another 10 are active listings on the market, six in Fallbrook.

Illustrating the speed with which homes moved in July, he said that five upper end homes came off the market in just over 30 days, which was a similar time frame for the condos that also went into escrow last month.

Kalman´s data for the reporting periods ending July 31, 2016, came from Sandicor, Inc., the area's multiple listing service for realtors. It represents properties listed or sold by various brokers in the region. He is affiliated with HomeSmart Real Estate, 701 S. Main, Fallbrook.