Southland home prices soar 28.3% in June — a year-to-year record
Southern California home prices skyrocketed more than 28% in June compared to a year ago, real estate information firm DataQuick reported Wednesday.
The dramatic 28.3% jump was greater than any year-over-year pop seen during the housing boom and the most since January 1989, the first time DataQuick generated the figure.
The Southland’s median sales price reached $385,000 last month, 4.6% more than May and the highest dollar amount in more than five years.
“This market’s getting really interesting,” DataQuick President John Walsh said Wednesday in a news release announcing the figures.
Walsh said there are signs the “blistering pace” of rising home prices won’t continue, citing rising mortgage rates and the belief that the price gains will spur more home owners to place their houses on the market.
Sales in the six-county Southland region declined slightly in June — the first year-over-year decline since last September and an indication that inventory remains extremely tight.
Buyers purchased 21,608 new and resale houses and condos last month, a 2.1% drop from June of last year, and a 6.2% decline from May.
The housing recovery began to take off last year as foreclosures declined and low interest rates spurred home buyers into action amid an improving economy. Traditional home buyers and investors have battled over an extremely low number of homes for sale, creating bidding wars and driving up prices.
Los Angeles County saw the most dramatic home price gains in June as the median rose 30.8% from last June, to $425,000. In Riverside County, which has been a hotbed for investor purchases, buyers paid a median of $269,250, a 30.4% increase from last June.
In pricey Orange County, the median rose 20.3% from last June to $545,000.
The median sales price is the point at which half of homes sold for more and half sold for less; it is influenced by the types of homes selling as well as a general rise or fall in values.
DataQuick said rising home values accounted for roughly three-quarters of June’s huge increases, while the change in types of homes selling explained the rest.
Absentee buyers — usually investors — accounted for 28.7 % of homes sold, DataQuick said; cash buyers made up 30.2%.
Both those percentages were declines from May, but still far above historical averages.
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Home sales and prices
Southern California home sales and prices in June and one-year percentage change:
| Los Angeles | 7,342 | -3.6 | $425,000 | +30.8 |
| San Diego | 4,048 | +7.8 | $416,500 | +24.1 |
| Riverside | 3,536 | -7.7 | $269,250 | +30.4 |
| Orange | 3,350 | 0.0 | $545,000 | +20.3 |
| San Bernardino | 2,436 | -5.0 | $204,000 | +29.1 |
| Ventura | 896 | -5.9 | $450,000 | +23.1 |
| Southern California | 21,608 | -2.1 | $385,000 | +28.3 |
Source: DataQuick
Los Angeles Times
