General Market Info:

• Conforming loan limits for Los Angeles County were increased from $417,000 to $729,750, a huge boon for home owners looking to refinance and for new home buyers. The bad news is that these changes are part of the Fed’s economic stimulus package and are a temporary increase that ends December 31, 2008 unless our political leaders choose to make these changes permanent.
• Tight money and lack of funds for loans compounded with stricter underwriting standards still haunt the market, although this hopefully will be changing soon as Fed bailout funds trickle down to the consumer.
• Case Shiller Index, which covers 20 major metro areas, had Los Angeles Metro area down 16.5% for February 2008.
• As we enter the important spring and summer selling season the inventory is starting to increase, so it will be interesting to see if the buyers enter the market and if they are able to get financing.
• New Home Sales for the nation fell to a 13 year low and California median home prices fell 26% from year ago levels.

Here are the current stats for February 2008: