So Cal Home Sales Rise

Southern California home sales rose in October. Shrinking inventory of homes for sale and government and industry efforts to stoke demand and curtail foreclosures helped prices stabilize. Last month 22,132 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties. That was up 2.8% from 21,539 in September and also up 2.8% from 21,532 a year earlier, according to MDA DataQuick.

Los Angeles Times Declares a Bottom

Southern California median home sales price surged in June with sales volume reached a 30-month high. Prices increased to a new average of $265,000.

From the LA Times:

“Southern California home prices may have finally hit bottom, with median values rising last month for the first significant increase in two years, new data show.”

For the first time in 9 months fewer than half of the sales were foreclosures while the prices rose 6.4% in May.

“I think we can now say with fair degree of confidence the pace of real home price declines has slowed dramatically,” said Los Angeles economist Christopher Thornberg, who was an early predictor of the housing bubble.

“Sales in many higher-cost neighborhoods couldn’t have gotten much lower, so this recent uptick in activity should come as no surprise,” MDA DataQuick President John Walsh said. “The recession and problem mortgages are fueling more high-end distress, hence more high-end bargains.”

The percentage of homes that sold in June for more than $500,000 rose to about 20% of all homes purchased, up from 18% in May.

Additionally only 45% of the homes sold had been foreclosed upon, DataQuick said, the lowest percentage since July 2008. Foreclosures peaked at 57% of total sales in February.  Escrow closed on a total of 23,262 new and resale houses and condominiums in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and San Diego counties last month. That was up 12% from 20,775 in May and up 29% from a year earlier.

Los Angeles County’s median home price in June was $320,000, up from $300,000 in May….In Orange County, the median price went from $410,000 in May to $418,000 in June…The median price in San Diego County rose from $295,000 in May to $314,000 in June.

Forbes Calls L.A. 5th Best City to Buy a Home

Los Angeles is the fifth-best American city to buy a house, Forbes magazine said in a new ranking of U.S. metro areas.

“While the majority of the nation’s housing markets are still working toward a bottom, some cities are boasting fundamentals that make them good places to buy a home now,” Forbes reported this week.

Denver is the best city to buy a home. Phoenix was ranked No. 2, followed by Boston, San Diego and Los Angeles.