IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Home sales in Southern California fell 3.4 percent in May, and it’s not difficult to see why.
The median price of home – $530,000 – was a record for the six-county market and an 8.2 percent increase year-over-year, according to data released by CoreLogic in Irvine.
Last month’s drop in sales, attributable mostly to not enough homes being built, continues a trend that began earlier this year, said Andrew LePage, CoreLogic analyst.
“With inventory tight and affordability worsening, the number of Southern California homes sold has fallen on a year-over-year basis during three of the last five months,” LePage said in a statement. “Total sales during the first five months of this year fell about two percent from the same period last year, reflecting limited inventory particularly in more affordable price ranges.”
A strong economy and historically low mortgage rates have also helped drive up home prices, the report noted.
Sales of new homes have trended up this year, but they’re still running below historically normal levels: 37 percent below average during the first five months of the year over the past 30 years.
In the Inland Empire, sales were down 2.8 percent in Riverside County and 2.4 percent in San Bernardino County. Median prices – $380,000 in Riverside County and $337,000 in San Bernardino County – were year-over-year increases of seven percent and 8.7 percent respectively, according to CoreLogic.
