LA County Home Sales Up More Than 25 Percent Compared To A Year Ago
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — More people are buying homes as compared to a year ago, with a 25.3 percent jump in L.A. County properties, according to a real estate research group.
San Diego-based DataQuick compared statistics between May 2011 and May 2012 and found that a total of 7,496 houses changed hands in L.A. County last month, compared to 5,983 in May 2011.
Home prices are up in Orange County for the first time in 18 months, as well as in the Inland Empire. However, in L.A. County prices dipped by 1.6 percent, with $315,000 being the median price of a home -- down from $320,000 last year.
Home prices for all of Southern California are up 1.7 percent from April and 5.4 percent since May of last year.
"The market is being slowly nursed back to health by low-interest rates, a modestly improved economy and, we suspect, a widening sense that the housing sector is at or near bottom," said John Walsh, president of DataQuick.
"There's still plenty of uncertainty swirling around out there. But it looks like more move-up buyers are concluding it makes sense in the long run to sell their homes now, even when it's hard to swallow the price."
In Orange County, 3,279 homes were sold in May, up 23.1 percent from May 2011, when 2,664 were sold. The median home price was $435,000 last month, an increase of 2.4 percent from $425,000 in May 2011.
A total of 22,192 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in May, according to DataQuick. That was up 15.1 percent from 19,284 in April, and up 20.6 percent from 18,394 in May 2011.
The median price for a Southern California home was $295,000 last month, up 1.7 percent from $290,000 in April and up 5.4 percent from $280,000 in May 2011.
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