Prices Shows Signs of Leveling Off

The Southern California residential real estate market showed surprising strength last month, posting sales gains for the eighth month in a row and showing signs that the steadily falling prices of the past two years may be leveling off, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 12,921 new and used condos and houses were sold in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties last month. That was up 7.5% from 12,024 in January and up 26.4% from 10,222 in February a year ago, Dataquick Information Systems reported.

The sales increase was strongest in Orange County, at 65%, while sales levels were up only 14.5% in Los Angeles County.

Condo prices were up 2.2%, from a median $139,000 a year ago to $142,000 now. The median for a newly built home was $168,000 last month, the same as a year ago.