Median Home Price in Region Exceeds $300,000

Fueled by strong demand but a shortage of available houses, the Southern California housing market reached a milestone in March as the median price of a home surpassed $300,000.

But that did little to deter buyers, who still are being lured into the tight housing market by low borrowing costs.

“There are a significant number of people who are buying their first homes and making very low down payments,” said analyst John Karevoll of DataQuick Information Systems, which tabulated the March results. “They’re active and that has to do with interest rates.”

Orange County continued to be the most expensive housing market in the six-county region. The median price there surged 18.7% to $394,000.

Peter Hernandez, president of real estate brokerage Coldwell Banker in Orange County, said within the last few months he has seen more first-time buyers looking for homes starting at $500,000 or above.

“It’s startling,” he said. “You have young, [upwardly mobile] families and individuals coming in and saying, ‘I want to start a home here.’ ”

For the first three months of the year, Hernandez said, the number of homes sold by his brokerage dipped about 1% compared with the same period last year. The average price of a home, however, jumped 25%, he said, adding that last month his firm closed 416 transactions with an average price of $586,000.

“People really feel secure in buying real estate right now,” he said.

For the entire Southern California region, the median price of homes and condominiums sold hit $301,000, a 17.1% jump from March 2002, according to DataQuick. The median price is the point at which half of the properties in a given market sell for more and half for less.

In Los Angeles County, the region’s largest housing market, the median rose 15.5% last month to $290,000.

San Diego led the region with the largest increase in the median price, a 19.4% rise to $363,000. Ventura County jumped 15.1% to $359,000.

In the Inland Empire, median prices climbed 17.3% in both Riverside and San Bernardino counties, to $237,000 and $183,000, respectively.

Despite the price increases in Southern California, the number of homes and condos sold in the region slipped 7.5% to 27,885 properties from a year ago, according to DataQuick. The decline was the first since August.

“There’s a lot of buyers, but not enough houses for them,” said Marty Rodriguez, a Century 21 broker in Glendora. “That’s causing the decline because there’s a lack of inventory.”