Southern California Real Estate Market Rebounds: Unit Sales And Median Prices Both Increase In May

DQNews.com – Southern California home sales rose for the 11th consecutive month in May as sales of $500,000-plus homes started to come back. The median price paid increased slightly from the prior month for the first time since July 2007, the result of a shift in market activity where sales of deeply discounted foreclosures waned and mid- to high-end purchases rose, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 20,775 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties last month. That was up 1.3% from 20,514 in April and up 22.8% from 16,917 a year ago. Sales have now increased year-over-year for 11 consecutive months. May’s sales were the highest for that month since May 2006, when 30,303 homes sold, but were 21.2% below the average May sales total since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the six-county Southland last month was $249,000, up 0.8% from $247,000 in April but down 32.7% from $370,000 a year ago. The median price hadn’t risen from one month to the next since July 2007, when it increased 0.6% from $502,000 to $505,000.

“We appear to be in the early stages of the market gradually tilting back toward a more normal balance of sales across the home price spectrum. As more sellers get realistic, more buyers get off the fence and more lenders offer reasonable terms for high-end purchase financing, we’ll see a more normal share of sales in the more established, higher-cost areas that have been nearly comatose,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.

MP: Although the increases were small, the fact that both unit home sales and median home prices increased in May suggests that the Southern California real estate market has reached a bottom and is on the road to recovery.

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Comment by JRFrogman

2009-07-08 21:34:13

Ok, the numbers may be correct but this sounds like wishful thinking by a real estate agent. All the reasons for this bubble are still slowly eroding and we still have not hit bottom. There is nothing out there to support such high prices except cheap money. As soon as the Fed pulls it head out, the cheap money will dry up. We also have foreclosures being blocked in Calif. We also have rising unemployment (the real numbers are %16) that will kill new sales. These are just a few of the things that are coming soon and the puncture to the housing bubble will get even bigger. Don’t be so naive.

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