Southern California Home Sales Hit 7 Year High

Home sales in Southern California hit a seven yearrnhigh in April spurred by pent up consumer demand and high levels of investorrnactivity.  Prices rose along with salesrnto a 58 month high.  </p

DataQuick, in a report released on Tuesday, said arntotal of 21,415 houses and condos sold in the southern counties of Los Angeles,rnSan Diego, Ventura, Riverside, Orange, and San Bernardino, an increase of 4.1rnpercent from March and 9.5 percent from April 2012.  </p

DataQuick said some of the month -over-month increase<bcould be seasonal as March to April prices have risen an average of 1 percentrnevery year since it began tracking them in 1988.   April sales have averaged 24,291 over thernyears with a low of 15,303 units in 1995 and a peak of 37,905 units in 2004. </p

The median price paid for all new and resale housesrnand condos in the region was $357,000, up 3.3 percent from March and 23.1rnpercent from the median of $290,000 in April 2012.  This was the highest median price since Junern2008 when it was $360,000.  DataQuickrnsaid the dramatic price increase was reflective of home price appreciation, arnsimultaneous plunge in foreclosure resales, and a surge in mid and up-marketrnhome sales as buyers sought to move up.  </p

John Walsh, DataQuick president said that this is arnmarket that is still rebalancing.  “Sales of deeply discountedrnproperties in affordable neighborhoods are way down. Activity in middle andrnhigh-end communities is on its way up. Now it’s catch-up time, with a healthierrneconomy spurring more demand and rising prices tempting more people to putrntheir homes up for sale. </p

The median sales price has risen onrna year-over-year basis for 13 consecutive months, and those gains have beenrndouble-digit since last August, the report says. Some of the region’s mostrnaffordable housing markets, where prices were beaten down the most during thernforeclosure crisis, posted some of the largest price gains. In April, thernlowest-cost third of the region’s housing stock saw a 20.7 percentrnyear-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale houses.rnThe annual gain was 18.5 percent for the middle third of the market and 15.2rnpercent for the top third.</p

The number of homes that sold belowrn$200,000 last month declined 29.8 percent year-over-year, while sales belowrn$300,000 dipped 21.1 percent. Sales in many affordable markets have beenrnlimited not by a lack of demand, but by a lack of supply, DataQuick said

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