Real Estate Prices Going Up, Units Sold Going Down in L.A. County

The median price of a home in Los Angeles County rose by 5.9 percent in June, compared with the same month a year ago, while the number of homes sold dipped by 7.5 percent, a real estate information service announced today.

According to DataQuick, the median price of a Los Angeles County home was $450,000 last month, up from $425,000 in June 2013. A total of 6,792 homes were sold in the county, down from 7,342 during the same month the previous year.

In Orange County, the median price was $600,000 last month, up 10.1 percent from $545,000 in June 2013. The number of homes sold dropped by 1.2 percent, from 3,350 in June 2013 to 3,309 last month.

A total of 20,654 new and resale houses and condos changed hands in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month, according to DataQuick. That was up 5.6 percent from 19,556 in May and down 4.4 percent from 21,068 in June 2013.

The median price for a Southern California home was $415,000 in June, up 1.2 percent from $410,000 in May and up 7.8 percent from $385,000 in June 2013.

"Pent-up demand, job growth and still-slow mortgage rates continue to put pressure on home prices," DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said. "In many markets price appreciation has slipped into the more sustainable single-digit range, compared with gains exceeding 20 percent this time last year.

"Why the drop-off? The supply of homes for sale, while still low in an historical context, is higher this year, and the decline in affordability serves as gravity for home prices. People can't stretch with exotic risky loans the way they could during the last housing boom."

--City News Service