High-end housing market is red hot

California’s high-end housing market, like the state’s housing market in general, is performing well.

The number of single-family homes that sold for $1 million or more rose to its highest level in seven years during the second quarter of this year, according to CoreLogic DataQuick, the La Jolla-based real estate information service.

In all, 12,846 house topped the $1 million price tag during April, May and June. That was a 60.4 percent increase compared with the first quarter and a 9.1 percent increase year-over-year.

That was the highest amount of $1 million-plus sales for any quarter since the second quarter of 2007, when 13,681 homes in California met or exceeded that price, according to CoreLogic DataQuick.

The record was set during the third quarter of 2005, when 15,898 houses sold for $1 million or more.

None of the mega-sales during the second quarter happened in the Inland Empire.

DataQuick officials are attributing the jump to a strong rise in prices during the past year and an increase in demand.

“It’s always fascinating to watch this part of the real estate market,” said Andrew LePage, an analyst with CoreLogic DataQuick. “It behaves differently [and] responds to its own set of criteria. These buyers … are less likely to agonize over credit scores, income and job security, down payments and mortgage interest rates. They’re constantly evaluating where to park [their] assets.”

More than 5,700 of the $1 million-plus sales last quarter happened in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, an all-time high. A total of 277,666 houses in the state are valued at more than $1 million, figures that are determined by county assessor’s office, according to CoreLogic DataQuick.