Home prices are up, but sales are off from a year ago

Southern California home prices rose in March for the 76th consecutive month, with the median surpassing $300,000 for the first time. But the sales count fell from a year ago, the first decline since last August, according to DataQuick Information System.

The median price that Southland buyers paid for a home was $301,000, up 3.1% from $292,000 in February and 17.1% higher than $257,000 in March last year, according to the real estate information service.

A total of 27,885 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 23.8% from 22,516 February , but down 7.5% from 30,146 for March a year ago.

Across the country, sales of existing homes fell 5.6% in March, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. But new home sales shot up 7.3% during the month, the Commerce Department said. Prices in both categories were up.