Home Sales Continue to Drop but Prices Remain High
As is the case throughout the nation, the slowing in the housing market is also taking place in San Joaquin County. Demand for housing continues to fall, driving the decline in the housing sales. After peaking at the close of 2005, sales continued to drop and reached the levels below the lowest levels of 2004.
In terms of absolute numbers, the Stockton housing market took the hardest hit, seeing 152 drops in sales between April 2006 and April 2007. At the same time, Tracy, Manteca, and Lodi saw sales drops of 74, 52, and 17, respectively.
Despite the significant drop in sales, housing prices remain persistent. While median housing prices do show a declining trend, they decline at a much slower pace. As price increases, housing demand becomes more and more elastic, and this is especially true in Stockton where average buyers have lower income than buyers in other cities. Between April 2006 and April 2007, median housing price in Stockton fell by $8,000. At the same time prices fell by $10,000 in Tracy, and $23,000 in Lodi. Manteca is the only city experiencing a significant drop of $73,000 in median price. Overall, however, as low as their price levels in 2007, they are still comparable to the levels in 2004 when housing market was still strong.
