MIXED SIGNALS ON THE ECONOMY : Sales of Existing Homes in California Rise Again : Real estate: November improvement marks the third straight monthly gain. Brokers are hoping that the long slump in the industry is finally over.

Sales of existing single-family homes in California rose for the third straight month in November, a real estate trade group said Wednesday, raising hopes that the state’s prolonged housing slump has finally ended.

The California Assn. of Realtors said homes in the state sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 426,080 units last month, up 1.9% from the 418,160-unit pace in October and 8.5% ahead of sales in November of last year.

The modest sales gain in November followed a healthy 11% increase in October and a 1% rise in September, marking the first time in nearly a year that sales have increased in three consecutive months.

“It generally takes three straight months of upward or downward movement to establish a trend, so maybe California is finally pulling out of its (housing) slump,” said John Tuccillo, chief economist for the National Assn. of Realtors.

“The market isn’t going to come roaring back, but it looks like it’s on the road to recovery,” he added.

Walt McDonald, a broker and president of the California Assn. of Realtors, said the recent sales gains have been fueled by some of the lowest interest rates on mortgages in two decades and renewed optimism about the future of the economy.

“Consumers are slowly getting their confidence back, and that’s a key ingredient to get the market moving again,” McDonald said. “I think the worst of times are over.”

The realtors’ report also said the median price of a home in the state stood at $194,530 in November, down slightly from October’s $194,630 median but about $500 above the price paid for a typical home in November, 1991.

Few are predicting large increases in prices any time soon because the market is flooded with homes for sale.

The report said that the statewide unsold inventory index--which measures the number of months it would take to sell all homes on the market at the current sales rate--rose to 14.6 months in November from 13.2 months in October.

By contrast, the index stood at a mere five months in 1988, when sales were booming and prices were skyrocketing.

“I think that sales have finally bottomed out, but prices aren’t going to go up anytime soon,” said Fred Sands of Fred Sands Realtors, one of the Southland’s biggest real estate brokerage firms. “There’s just too many homes for sale to trigger a big run-up in prices.”

Still, realtors say, stable home values and low interest rates are luring more prospective buyers to their open houses. Sands and many other Southland brokers say that foot traffic through homes for sale has risen between 10% and 25% over the last two months.

“Sales are still slow, but at least we’ve got some ‘looky-loos,’ ” said Betty Landes of Landes Realty in Riverside. “A few months ago, people wouldn’t even consider buying a house. Now they’re testing the water, and I hope they’ll jump in.”

The realtors’ report also said that sales of condominiums dropped 15.8% in November from October and were down 10.5% from a year earlier.