Housing sales continue to slide

Single-family home sales in Southern California fell to a three-year low for the month July, as prices rose and investment buyers played a lesser role in the market.

Sales in the six-county region – the Inland Empire plus Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties – dropped 12.4 percent compared with July 2013, according to CoreLogic DataQuick in Irvine.

That marked the 10th consecutive month that Southern California home sales have dropped year over year.

Last month’s sales were 19.4 percent below the July average of 25,269 houses sold during that month, according to CoreLogic DataQuick, which released its monthly report on the housing market today.

At the same time, the median price of a single-family home in Southern California was $413,00, a 7.3 percent year-over-year increase.

“Prices came a long way in a couple of years, and now a lot of would-be buyers just can’t stretch their finances enough to buy in today’s more conservative lending environment,” said Andrew LePage, analyst with CoreLogic DataQuick in Irvine, in a statement. “That’s not the only reason price appreciation is easing, but it’s one of the main ones.”

The Inland Empire’s housing market last month mirrored the Southern California market.

Sales were down 10.3 percent in Riverside County and 9.9 percent in San Bernardino County. At the same time, price rose in both markets: up 9.8 percent in Riverside County (median price $291,000) and up 17.4 percent in San Bernardino County (median price $240,750).

Some good news emerged from the July data.

Foreclosure resales – the sale of homes that were foreclosed on during the past year – accounted for 5.2 percent of the sales in Southern California last month, down from 7.7 percent compared with July 2013, according to the data.