From Realtor.com –“The past year has been filled with plenty of highs and lows, no matter your perspective. And housing was no different, closing out 2019 with a mixed scorecard. The big takeaway is, it was a somewhat disappointing year for housing, says Javier Vivas, director of economic research at realtor.com. Low mortgage rates should have propelled home sales much higher than we saw. Prices just got to levels that were too high for buyers.”
Nationwide home prices were up over the previous year, however, one in five cities saw falling prices, such as several California cities. The price drop reflects the fact that prices in recent years have risen to levels that are sustainable.
Arcadia, in LA County, benefited from foreign buyers over the past few years. It has been popular especially for Chinese buyers. Several recent factors have slowed their buying binge. According to Redfin, home prices in Arcadia have fallen ~11% since last year.
San Diego Union Tribune: Home types for November 2019 – Resale SFRs down 5.5% from peak June 2019; Condos down 9.6% from peak August 2019; New SFRs down 16% from October 2018 peak.
Currently there is ~$1.3 Trillion(T) of auto debt, it is the 3 rd largest from of Debt, after mortgages (~$9.4 T) & student debt ~1.5 T. The amount of auto debt has increased ~75% since the “Great Recession”.
ATTOM Data Solutions November 2019 report indicates that bank repossessions have risen 4% since October & 22% from a year ago.
California experienced the most outbound migration in the U.S. in 2018 ~700,000 left the state. High taxes & property prices have something to do with this.