Southern California Home Sales Increase in May

Sales of homes in Southern California were up sharply in May as demand for higher-end houses increased, research firm MDA DataQuick reported Wednesday.

From DataQuick: Southern California home sales rose for the 11th consecutive month in May as sales of $500,000-plus homes started to come back…

A total of 20,775 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties last month. That was up 1.3 percent from 20,514 in April and up 22.8 percent from 16,917 a year ago, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.

Sales have increased year-over-year for 11 consecutive months.

May’s sales were the highest for that month since May 2006, when 30,303 homes sold, but were 21.2 percent below the average May sales total since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

Foreclosure resales – homes sold in May that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 50.2 percent of all Southland resales. That was down from 53.5 percent in April and from a peak of 56.7 percent in February. May’s figure was the lowest since foreclosure resales were 50.9 percent of all resales last October.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in May was $249,000. That was a slight increase of 0.8% from April but was still down 32.7% from a year earlier. DataQuick said the median price hadn’t shown an increase from the prior month since July 2007.

“We appear to be in the early stages of the market gradually tilting back toward a more normal balance of sales across the home price spectrum…” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.

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