John Skinner– The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southern California buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,030 last month, down from $1,074 the previous month, and down from $1,831 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 52.9% below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 61.4% below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.
– Southern California’s median home price in April was $247,000, down slightly from the previous month, a real estate research firm reported.The price drop — a decline of 51% from the 2007 peak — came after three months in which the median price had held steady at $250,000, according to the data from San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.
– First American CoreLogic, which has a vast store of data on actual mortgages, reports that Los Angeles County mortgages delinquent by 90 days or more in March were up to 8.9% of the total — more than double the percentage of March last year.
Foreclosure filings, the next step in the foreclosure process, were issued on 2.3% of L.A. County mortgages in March, up from 1.9% in March 2008.
Repossessions, the final step in foreclosure, which results in a property being taken by the lender, were done on 1.6% of L.A. County mortgages in March, up from 1.2% in March 2008.
