The Irvine Market Report: Detached Home Stats, August 2008

As with last weeks Costa Mesa market reports and tomorrow’s post (which is a overview of the statistics for the condo housing market in Irvine), I am switching over to the Redfin’s inventory and pricing tools to help with determining the status of the housing market. So unless otherwise noted, the following numbers are from Redfin’s Irvine “Overview of Homes for Sale” webpage.

This page includes the Irvine inventory and pricing numbers as well as the associated charts and graphs. So if you would like to see the charts and graphs, click on the link for the above mentioned overview page. Also, note that the numbers with an asterisk (*) are based on homes sold or taken off the market in last 90 days and include MSL-listed, for-sale-by-owner (FSBO), and bank-foreclosure homes.

For more information on the August Irvine housing numbers, see tomorrow’s post “The Irvine Market Report: Condo Housing Stats, August 2008.” For a review of the January 2008 to July 2008 Irvine housing numbers, see “The Irvine Market Report: Detached Homes Stats, July 2008” and “Reality Check: Irvine Market Detached+Condo Housing Stats, July 2008.”

Following are the 2008 detached home statistics for Irvine. Last month’s detached home numbers for Irvine showed a market that hinted of a upward trend for the detached home market in Irvine. However, this month’s numbers indicate another holding pattern or even downward-pricing trend in this market. The most significant number is the median price per square foot, which went down.

• Median List Sales Price:
  On August 29, 2008: $889K
  On July 20, 2008: $939,431 (Source: Altos Research)
  Note: The Altos August number for this category is higher ($944,957), most likely because Redfin includes FSBO listings and bank-foreclosure properties. However, the median list price per square foot decreased in both Altos and Redfin charts. See below.

• Median Sold Price*:
  On August 29: $705K

• Median List Sales Price/Square Foot:
  On August 29, 2008: $388
  Note: Altos Research has this number at $395**. For more explanation, see above, Median List Sales Price.
  On July 20, 2008: $469 (Source: Altos Research)

• Median Sold Price/Square Foot*:
  On August 29: $351

• Median Days on Market:
  On August 29, 2008: 85*
  On July 20, 2008: 109 (Note: This is average days on market, not median days on market. Source: Altos Research)

• Number of Homes on the Market (Inventory):
  On August 29, 2008: 436*
  On July 20, 2008: 401 (Source: Altos Research)

• % Homes with Price Reductions/Median # Reductions/Median Total % Reduction*:
  On August 29, 2008: 46.2%/2/6.2%

• Market Action Index (Source: Altos Research):
  On August 24, 2008: 17.28**
  On July 20, 2008: 17.00
  Note: The Market Action Index shows the balance between potential buyers and sellers, in other words, the balance between supply and demand. Above 30 is a sellers’ market; below 30 is a buyers’ market.

*Based on homes sold or taken off market in the last 90 days. These include MSL-listed, for-sale-by-owner, and bank-foreclosure homes.
**These Altos Research numbers are those that were listed on August 24, 2008.