Southland Sales Take Seasonal Dip

While Southland home sales entered their normal off-season lull last month, year-over-year prices inched up for the first time in almost three years, crossing a significant threshold in the real estate market’s slow recovery, a real estate information service reported.

The median price paid for a Southern California home was $170,000 in September, up 0.6% from $169,000 for the same month a year ago. It was the first time the market had experienced a year-over-year increase since November, 1991, when the median of $178,000 was up 1.1% from the year before, Dataquick Information Systems reported.

“Prices have been coming back unevenly, kicking in area by area and by home category,” said Donald L. Cohn, Dataquick CEO. “Prices started recovering in San Diego County well before the other counties. We’re now seeing move-up and newly built homes regaining marketshare.

“Properties in Los Angeles and in the Inland Empire are still experiencing some price declines, especially medium-sized resale houses,” he said.

Southland prices hit a low in February when the median sales price dipped to $165,000. The all-time high spiked briefly up to $189,000 in May, 1991. The median last August was $169,000.

September’s sales count for Southern California was 16,576. That was down 13.5% from 19,156 for August and up 1.3% from 16,370 for September last year. The year-over-year sales increase was the ninth in a row. The August-September dip is normal for this time of year, Dataquick reported.

Southland Home Sales

All homes No. Sold No. Sold Pct Med (K) Med (K) Pct (New & Used) Sept. 93 Sept. 94 Chng Sept. 93 Sept. 94 Chng Los Angeles 6,169 6,070 -1.6% $173 $171 -1.2% Orange County 2,844 3,166 11.3% $206 $205 -0.5% San Diego 3,055 2,862 -6.3% $166 $171 3.0% Riverside 1,579 1,778 12.6% $129 $130 0.8% San Bernardino 1,896 1,775 -6.4% $129 $127 -1.6% Ventura 827 925 11.9% $196 $193 -1.5% So. California 16,370 16,576 1.3% $169 $170 0.6%