Morning Briefing: California home sales rebounded last month

California home sales rebounded last month… Will this persuade millennials to buy a home?... Arizona’s priciest home goes on sale…

California home sales rebounded last month
Home sales in California rebounded in December after a weak November according to new figures from the California Association of Realtors.

Sales of existing single-family homes increased 9.6 per cent from November 2015 and 10.7 per cent from December 2014. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate was 405,530. Condo sales increased 25.1 per cent in the month from November and were 10.2 per cent higher than a year earlier.

Prices also increased with the median home price statewide reaching $489,310, up 2.6 per cent from November and 8 per cent from December 2014.

“As we speculated, sales that were delayed in November because of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new loan disclosure rules closed in December instead, which led to the greatest monthly sales increase in nearly five years,” said C.A.R. President Ziggy Zicarelli. “Sales increased across the board in all price segments in December, but improvement in the sub-$500,000 market was more pronounced as many homes affected by the new loan disclosures were priced under the conforming loan limit.”

The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home increased in December to 39.5 days, compared with 37.5 days in November and 44.1 days in December 2014.
 
Will this persuade millennials to buy a home?
Millennials can be a tricky bunch with a focus on technology, flexibility and the sharing economy. It has led to a shift towards renting as a long term option for many who would traditionally have become first time buyers; and a challenge for the real estate industry trying to convince them that ownership is still an American Dream worth following. Pardee Homes in South Nevada is hoping that its research and development of two home models aimed specifically at the millennial market will prompt more of that generation to become homeowners. Pardee’s Klif Andrews told the Review Journal that the homes are pretty unique and expects them to pick up a lot of interest when they go public in February: "We looked at what the millennial audience is buying and what their tastes are” he said.

Those attending the International Builders’ Show this week will get a sneaky peak at the new homes. As well as a traditional home there is a contemporary farmhouse model which Andrews says taps into millennials’ nostalgia for “the homes they grew up in” but with a modern twist. It’s the first time Pardee has offered this kind of home. Andrews says that it is designed to be flexible to adapt to owners’ changing lives. It even includes a studio apartment with separate entrance to accommodate multigenerational living.
 
Arizona’s priciest home goes on sale
An Arizona estate has gone on sale as the state’s highest-priced listing. Villa Paradiso in Paradise Valley has an asking price of $35 million, around 174 times the median home value in the state. This is a lot of property for the money though; a 36,000 square foot mansion with an indoor basketball court, James Bond-themed movie theater, hair salon and pool with his and hers pool houses. For hygiene-conscious buyer there are 20 bathrooms! The estate also includes a 3 bedroom guesthouse which has its own pool. AZ Central reports that the home was built by hedge fund executive Robert Sussman and the listing is with Catherine Jacobson and Walt Danley of Walt Danley Realty with international marketing from Christies.