As you may know, 2022 was a turbulent year for the housing market all across the nation. Home prices across California were down 4.4% year-over-year in December. At the same time, the number of homes sold fell to 44.3%, and the number of homes sold rose to 12%, based on the California Association of Realtors (CAR). In its 2023 California Housing Market Forecast report, CAR predicts a 7.2% drop in existing single-family home Sales in 2023. It will fall to 333,450 sold units, down from its projected sales volume of 359,220 units this year which is predicted to be 19.2% less than the 444,530 homes sold in 2021. Even though the market is projected to decline, the median price rose 11.3% from 2019 to 2020, 19.3% from 2020 to 2021, and 5.7% from 2021 to 2022. On the other hand, the Central Coast market remains strong, with prices up another 4.2% from last December 2022. The market also showed quite a few price reductions due to high mortgage rates, and homes were priced considerably higher than the market. Buyers are continuously looking at properties and are hoping to snag a home in 2023. Considering the mortgage rates are considerably higher than last January, some sellers offer incentives to lower the Buyer rates. However, there have been a few homes back on the market due to Buyers not qualifying for a mortgage. Knowing your financial status before looking and making an offer on a home as a buyer is essential. βOne way to be certain that you have a true pre-approval is by supplying your trusted lender with all applicable income documents, your two most recent complete bank statements for funds used to purchase your new home, and having tri-merge credit report pulled and reviewed by the underwriter. If one or all of these steps is missing, you likely only have a verbal pre-qualification with your loan officer.β Arol Paz, Branch Manager Union Home Mortgage For more on how I can assist you with your real estate needs, DM @realtorj J Andrew Arlegui, REALTOR Douglas Elliman of California Serving San Luis Obispo & Santa Barbara Counties CalCoastAgent.com (at Arroyo Grande, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnxa2m_Swvd/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
