The Visalia, CA market saw a drop in new home sales year-over-year in November, moving south after a bump in October 2011. Sales declined 4.3% from a year earlier to 45, relative to a 23.5% rise in October from the year earlier.

A total of 624 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in November, down from 626 for the year that ended in October.

Of the total number of sales, new home sales made up 8.9%. A year earlier, new home sales represented 9.8% of total sales. Sales of new and existing homes increased year-over-year in November after also rising in October year-over-year.

The average price of new homes dropped by 10.1% year-over-year to $190,002 per unit in November. This decline a drop off from the 17.7% drop in October from a year earlier.

The average mortgage size on newly sold homes declined year-over-year in contrast to the average price of new homes. In November 2011, the average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 26.5% fall from a year earlier. In October 2011, average mortgage size sank 36.4% from a year earlier. Of the overall sale price, the percentage that was being financed dropped 14.2 percentage points year-over-year to 63.8% in November 2011.

There was no change in the composition of the new-home market with regard to the types of properties sold in November 2011. Single-family home sales have accounted for all of new home sales while attached unit sales have made up no part of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size fell 15.4% year-over-year to 1,632 square feet in November 2011.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales declined in November from a year earlier, but remained a drag on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales represented 55.3% of existing home sales, down from 70.8% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures fell to 26.5% in November from 31.5% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales slid to 28.9% from 39.4% a year earlier.

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