Southern California housing market keeps tumbling

DataQuick, which monitors real estate activity and trends, reports home sales in Southern California dropped 17.4 percent in May from a year earlier, with a total of 18,394 homes sold.

Approximately one in three re-sale homes were in foreclosure and one in five sold in a "short sale," meaning the selling price fell short of what was owed on the property.

But home sales did go up 0.3 percent compared to April, and the median home price remained the same between the two months.

Buyers who paid cash purchased 24.6 percent of the homes sold in Southern California in May, illustrating the influence investors have on the market.

John Walsh, president of DataQuick, blames weak job growth, tight credit and hesitant potential buyers and sellers who fear the uncertain economic climate for the lack of strength in the housing market.

The adjustable-rate mortgages percentage in the area went up from 8.5 percent in April to 8.8 percent in May. Jumbo loans, or mortgages above the limit of $417,000, made up 17.1 percent of May's purchase lending - a slight decrease from 17.4 percent in April.  

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