Home Prices Surge in Region in December

Like Los Angeles and Orange counties, other regions of Southern California ended the year on a high note when it came to home prices, data released Tuesday showed.

The median price paid for a home in Southern California last month rose 22.5% from a year earlier to a record $424,000, according to real estate firm DataQuick Information Systems.

The December median -- the point at which half of the homes sold for more, half for less -- was up 2.2% from November’s $415,000.

Median home prices in all counties increased more than 20% year over year in all months of 2004, DataQuick said.

“The big question now is whether the cycle will play itself out in 2005 with a soft landing or with a turbulent crunch,” said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick’s president. “Right now, the soft-landing scenario appears the most likely.”

Prices in the Inland Empire continue to soar. In December, the median sales price in Riverside County surged 36.4% to $371,000 from a year earlier; San Bernardino County’s median jumped 30.7% to $281,000.

San Bernardino County saw a 5.5% rise in sales while Riverside witnessed a 4.7% decline. For the full year, the two counties posted sales increases, 7.4 % for San Bernardino and 9.1% for Riverside.

Ventura County saw its median price rise 26.1% to $522,000 in December. Sales fell 7.4% to 1,308 last month.

Regionwide, 30,317 new and resale homes and condos changed hands in the six-county area in December, a 6.5% drop from a year earlier, but a 10.4% increase from November. Last month’s sales tally was the third highest for any December since 1988, DataQuick said.

The typical Southern California buyer had a monthly payment (principal and interest only) of $1,869 in December, up from $1,545 a year earlier. That was about 14% below the previous inflation-adjusted peak of $2,115 in April 1989, three years before home prices began falling.