Rising interest rates bring down September homes sales, prices in LA Metro

LOS ANGELES — Thanks to rising interest rates, the median price of an existing, single-family home in the Los Angeles metro area fell to $750,000 in September — down from $765,000 in August but still up from $730,000 one year ago, the California Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

The month-to-month drop represented a 2% dip, but the year-to-year data shows a 2.7% rise, according to CAR.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles County trended in the opposite direction over the last month, with the median price rising to $891,770 — up from $854,960 in August and up from the $886,050 in September of 2021. The month-to-month rise was 4.3%, while the year-to-year increase was 0.6%.

"With interest rates rising rapidly since the beginning of the year, buyers and sellers are having difficulties adapting to the market's new `normal,"' CAR President Otto Catrina, a Bay Area real estate broker and Realtor, said in a statement.

"As the market continues to evolve in the next 12-18 months, Realtors will be playing an ever-more important role as trusted advisors to guide their clients through the complicated buying and selling process and help them overcome their obstacles during these challenging times."

The median price in Orange County was $1.2 million in September, the same as August but up from $1.1 million in September 2021. Those numbers represent no change month to month but a 9.1% rise year to year.

The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home in the Los Angeles metro area was 22 in September, up from 19 in August and from 10 in September 2021.

In Los Angeles County, the median number of days an existing house was on the market was 21 in September, up from 16 in August and 10 a year earlier.

In Orange County, the median time on the market was 21 days in September, up from 17.5 in August and eight in September 2021.

San Diego County's median price was $899,000 in September, up from $885,000 in August. It was $850,000 in September 2021.

Riverside County's median price in September was $600,000, down from $620,000 in August but up from $570,000 in September 2021.

At the regional level, sales continued to fall sharply from last year, with four of the five major regions in California falling more than 25% from last year. Southern California had the biggest annual drop in sales at 32.6%, as every county within the region experienced a sales decline of more than 30% in September.

The 30-year, fixed-mortgage interest rate averaged 6.11% in September, up from 2.9% in September 2021, according to Freddie Mac. The five-year, adjustable mortgage interest rate averaged 4.87%, compared to 2.45% in September 2021.