The lowest mortgage interest rates in 19 months lured prospective home buyers and sellers into the market during August as the inventory of homes and condominiums listed for sales continued to grow while prices moderated and sales posted slight declines, the Southland Regional Association of Realtors® reported today.
The national average mortgage rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage came in at 6.20% recently, Freddie Mac reported. The last time rates were lower than that number was February 2023.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also eased. The average rate fell to 5.27% from 5.47% in the first week of September. A year ago, it averaged 6.51%, Freddie Mac said.
“Today’s lower rates and the Fed’s promise of a series of additional rate cuts through 2025 clearly are enticing buyers and sellers back into the market,” said Bob Khalsa, the 2024 President of the 11,000-member Southland Regional Association of Realtors®.
“The peak of this year’s summer homebuying season may have passed in July,” he said, “but the expanded inventory with its wider selection may prove to be irresistible.”
There were 1,637 active listings of single-family homes on the Multiple Listing Service, up 23.6% from a year ago and the highest monthly total since November 2022.
Similarly, condominiums listed for sale numbered 495 – up 56.6% from August 2023.
“It’s unlikely interest rates will return to the 3% range of the COVID pandemic, but they may eventually settle around 5%,” said Valerie Biletsky, the Association’s Chief Executive Officer. “Combining those declines with additional listings could make the second half of the year busier than usual.”
Local Realtors helped close escrow on 576 single-family homes, up 0.7% from August 2023.
Condominium closed escrows totaled 164 transactions, up 0.6% from a year ago. Pending escrows – an indicator of future sales – were down 29% for homes and fell 20% for condominiums.
The median price of homes in the San Fernando Valley that changed owners last month was $1,070,000, up 7.0% from 12 months ago. The condominium median price of $605,000 increased. 5.2%. Both dropped slightly from record highs posted in July: the home record median price was $1.14 million while the condo record median price was $660,000.
