I’ve posted before on market indicators in the single family market that often go ignored.  I am somewhat annoyed at mindless discussions of median prices.  Most homeowners have no idea of how a median is calculated, and they have even less idea of what a median price means to the value of their home.

A measure that I tend to like a lot more is the price/square foot metric.  This metric doesn’t completely account for changes in home size over time, but I think it does a lot better job than the median does… if we’re talking about home values here. 

The chart below shows the average price/square foot for Corona, CA for the past two years.  Corona is a move-out/commuter city located just east of Orange County.  In the past two years Corona has seen its residential real estate basically halve in terms of unit prices.  I don’t want to get in the “bottom calling” business, but the trend looks like a jet pulling into the runway.  The steepest declines were seen in 2007 and 2008.  In July of 2007, homes were selling for $256/sf on average.  That number was $132/sf in January of this year, where it has generally hovered or slightly weakened since then.

Related posts:

1. List Price/Sale Price Ratio – Corona, CA Below is another chart related to the health of the...
2. Days On Market – Corona, CA The number of days a house is on market prior...
3. Sell Price/List Price Ratio, Great Market Indicator One of the things that drives me nuts is reading...