California pending home sales continued to gain steam in June, registering seven months of continued annual increases and the fifth consecutive month of double-digit increases, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.).

In a separate report, California REALTORS responding to C.A.R’s June Market Pulse Survey saw a reduction in floor calls, listing appointments, and open house traffic, compared with May. The Market Pulse Survey is a monthly online survey of more than 300 California REALTORS, Which measures data about their last closed transaction and sentiment about business activity in their market area for the previous month and the last year.

Pending Home Sales data:

• California pending home sales were up 12.5% on an annual basis from the revised 107 index recorded in June 2014, marking the seventh straight month of year-to-year gains and the fifth straight month of double-digit advances.
• Statewide pending home sales fell in June on a month-to-month basis, with the Pending Home Sales index (PHSI) decreasing 2.6% from revised 123.6 in May to 120.4, based on signed contracts. The month-to-month decrease was slightly below the average May-June loss of 1.9% observed in the last seven years.
• A shortage of available homes in the San Francisco Bay Area stified pending sales in June, pushing the PHSI to 127.9, down 5.3% from 135.1 in May down 0.9% from 129.1 index recorded in June 2014.
• Pending home sales in Southern California continued last month’s increase by rising 4% in June to reach an index of 109.6 up 14.2% from June 2014 index of 96.
• Central Valley pending sales fell in June dropping 8.2% from May to reach an index of 99.5 in June but up 14.2% from 87.2 index of June 2014.

Equity and distressed housing market data:

• The share of equity sales – or non-distressed property sales – declined slightly in June to make up 92.4% of all home sales, remaining near the highest level since late 2007. Equity sales make up 92.6% of all home sales in May and 89.9% in June 2014. The share of equity sales has been at or near 90% since mid-2014.
• Conversely, the combined share of all distressed property sales (REOs and short sales) rose slightly in June, up to 7.6% from 7.4% in May. Distressed sales made up 10.1% of total sales a year ago. Ten of the 43 counties that C.A.R. reported showed month-to-month decreases in their distressed sales shares, with Alameda and Santa Clara having the smallest share of distressed sales shares at 1%, followed by San Mateo (2%), Contra Costa (3%), and San Francisco (3%). Glenn had the highest share of distressed sales at 27% followed by Merced and Siskiyou (both at 23%) For more information, visit http://www.car.org, CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®