IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
It was more of the same last month in the Southern California housing market.
Sales homes fell 2.7 percent year-over-year during February, while median prices rose 7.6 percent, according to CoreLogic DataQuick in San Diego
February’s total sales – 13,560 – was a slight uptick from January, but still the lowest level of sales recorded in the month February in seven years, said CoreLogic DataQuick, which released its monthly report on the region’s single-family housing market Tuesday.
At the same time, prices kept going up.
The median home price in Southern California – the Inland Empire plus Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties – last month was $415,000, up 8.4 percent compared with February 2014.
Median prices have now risen year-over-year every month since April 2012, with 10 of those having been double-digit increases, according to CoreLogic DataQuick.
In the Inland region, sales dropped 9.8 percent in Riverside County and 10.4 percent in San Bernardino County year-over-year, while median prices fell 3.8 percent and 7.3 percent respectively, CoreLogic DataQuick stated.
The housing market today is much like it was at the start of last year, with slow sales because many first-time buyers are battling a low housing supply, higher prices and credit restrictions, said Andrew LePage, analyst with CoreLogic DataQuick.
“Just like a year ago, one of the big questions hanging over the market is whether we’ll see a [large] jump in inventory this spring and summer,” LePage said in a statement. “A nearly three-year stretch of price appreciation has given many more owners enough equity to sell their homes and buy another. Recent job growth has helped fuel housing demand, and if that’s met with only a modest rise in the supply of homes for sale it will put upward pressure on prices.”
