Home Resale Prices in S.D. Climb 15%

The median sale price of existing homes in Southern California went up between 10% and 15% during April, May and June, compared to the same period a year ago, a real estate trade group said Tuesday.

Prices went up 10.1% in the Los Angeles area to a median price of $128,700, according to a survey by the National Assn. of Realtors. In the Orange County area, prices went up 10.5% to a median of $149,400, the group said, and in San Diego, prices went up 15% to a median of $119,900.

Minnesota enjoyed the biggest boom in sales of existing homes, and residents of the Northeast had the biggest jump in home prices, the group reported.

Helped by the lowest mortgage rates of this decade, 15 states reported increases of 20% or more. But the boom was not nationwide. The slump in oil and gas production and other regional weaknesses contributed to sales declines in 15 states, led by an 18.4% drop in Louisiana.

Prices jumped the most in the Northeast, where five metropolitan areas reported substantial increases in selling prices in the past year. The largest increase was a 31.3% jump in Hartford, Conn., where the median price of a home rose to $127,600, compared to $97,200 a year ago. The New York metropolitan area remained the most expensive housing market in the country with a median sales price for an existing home of $160,000, an increase of 22.7%.

Nationwide, the price of a home rose by 8.9% in the past year, with a home selling for a median price of $81,900 in the April-June quarter, compared to $75,200 in the same period in 1985. The median price means that half the homes sold for more and half for less.

Sales rose by a national average of 14.5%, with existing homes being sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.78 million units in the April-June quarter.