Housing Market Watch #2

This is the second episode of Housing Market Watch (see the first episode here), where I focus on what's happening with home prices in Southern California using specific examples from the Multi-Listing Service (MLS).

Today's property is in Oxnard, California (Ventura County). I chose Oxnard because, as I reported in my post The Biggest Loser, it's the city that fell by the greatest percentage in Ventura County.

Type: SFR
Status: Active
MLS#: 80000445

Sq. Ft.: 2,249
Lot Size: 2,918 sqft
Year Built: 2002

Beds: 4
Baths: 2.5
Stories: 2
On RedFin: 116 days

Description

Great 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath + loft in the Channel Pointe gated community. This home features beautiful oak plank wood floors, tiled baths, spacious kitchen with center island and family room w/ fireplace & surround sound. Great for large families.

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Sales History

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Date	Sold Price	Gross Gain	Change ($)	Change (%)
06/26/03	$380,500	N/A	N/A	N/A
03/01/06	$675,000	+$294,500	+$294,500	77.40%
08/06/08	$400,000	+$19,500	-$275,000	40.74%

Once again, it's evident that this home appreciated by unsustainable percentages during the Great Housing Boom, increasing by an average of 28% per year between June 2003 and March 2006.

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Pricing History

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Date	Asking Price	Gross Gain	Change ($)	Change (%)
01/10/08	$539,000	-$136,000	-$136,000	20.15%
04/02/08	$419,000	-$256,000	-$120,000	22.26%
* * * * * * * * * PROPERTY SOLD * * * * * * * * * * *
09/26/08	$374,900	-$25,100	-$25,100	0.06%

This episode's seller seemed to understand that the market had changed since they bought their home. Unfortunately, the seller has either not reduced the price of the home as fast as the market is falling in Oxnard, or the more fickle buyer of this market has overlooked this home. Thus far, the seller has reduced the price of the home by roughly 7.4% per month. Since we don't know how much this home was going for before the boom started, there's no easy way to compute what this home may have been if the market had remained at nominal (4% per year); however, it's apparent (at least to me) that we haven't seen the last of the price declines for this home.

UPDATE 08/06/2008: The property has been sold for $400,000.
UPDATE 09/26/2008: The property is back on the market at $374,900.
UPDATE 01/06/2009: The property has been sold (again) for $360,000.