Repeat Home-Buyer Rate Hits 7-Year High

The proportion of repeat home buyers this year has surged to nearly 60%--the highest level since 1990--as consumers have grown more confident in investing in the state’s residential real estate market, according to a study by the California Assn. of Realtors. The number of repeat buyers had fallen in recent years as home prices plunged and sellers fled the state instead of buying another property. Only two years ago repeat home buyers accounted for less than half of all home purchases, according to the association’s California Housing Finance Survey, which tracks changes in the state’s real estate market. The survey also found that the median price discount--the difference between initial asking price and final sales price--shrank to 3.5% from 3.8% in 1996. This year’s discount is the smallest since 1989.