A report from the Orange County Register in California. "Southern California’s housing market enters the typically slower-selling fall season relatively awash in listings amid a significant cooling of house hunters’ willingness to make a deal. 'New cracks in the housing market are demonstrating that the cooling trend is here to stay,' wrote Steven Thomas of ReportsOnHousing that tracks homebuying patterns found in real estate broker networks."

"Thomas’ biweekly report found a stark change in the market for existing homes as of Sept. 20 vs. a year ago: selling time was 26 days longer as listings grew by 22 percent. As summer ended, the four-county region covered by the Southern California News Group had 36,923 listings, up 6,548 in a year or 22 percent. It’s also up 10 percent vs. the six-year average."

"Note that Southern California builders’ unsold inventory, which is not included in this study, stood at 3,336 in the second quarter, the highest in six years, according to MetroStudy."

"Sellers have rushed to market as year-to-date supply has grown sharply: Up 13,774 listings vs. a rise of 2,787 in the same period in 2017 — yes, a nearly five-fold increase."

"Surprisingly, in a market that was once seen as supply-starved, house hunters have pulled back despite the significant increase in choices. On Sept. 20 there were 11,603 new escrows, down 1,473 sales contracts in 12 months, or an 11 percent drop."

"More supply and fewer purchases mean ReportOnHousing’s 'market time' metric for selling speed rose to 95 days vs. 70 a year earlier and an average 82 days in 2012-2017. This is the slowest end-of-summer market in four years."

"Local home seller’s quick loss of market power is likely due to high homes prices and rising mortgages rates. By one metric, the number of Southern California’s 'affordable' homes has been at least halved in five years."

The Union Tribune. "Following national trends, San Diego has seen more homes available for purchase over the last few months. In July, there were 7,021 listings, up from 5,828 in July 2017 and 6,571 in July 2016, said the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors."

"Mark Goldman, real estate lecturer at San Diego State University, said the local market was strongly affected by increasing interest rates, more so than other parts of the nation, because of higher prices in California."

"'Even if the house stayed the same price,' he said, 'the house got more expensive because interest rates are higher.'"

"The interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan was 4.72 percent at the end of July, said Mortgage News Daily, up from 4.1 percent at the start of the year. The median home price for a single-family resale home was $630,000 in July, which meant the monthly mortgage payment (assuming 20 percent down) went from $3,044 at the start of the year to $3,275 by July."

"San Diego County existing home prices in July increased 6.2 percent in a year, its slowest pace since January 2017, said the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices released Tuesday. San Diego’s price increases were the second-slowest in the West, only ahead of Portland, and fell behind other California cities. America’s Finest City still slightly outpaced the national average of 6 percent."