Housing market sends mixed signals

Single-family home sales in Southern California were mixed bag in August, down slightly compared with the previous month but up year-over-year.

A total of 21,352 new and existing single-family homes were sold in the six-county region last month, a drop of 12.2 percent from July, according to CoreLogic’s monthly report on the Southern California housing market.

Year-over-year, however, was another story: sales were up eight percent compared with August 2014, but were 18 percent below average for the month of August dating back to 1988, when the monthly housing report began.

“After reaching the highest levels for the month of June and July in nine years, Southern California home sales downshifted to a two-year high for the month of August,” said Andrew LePage, research analyst with CoreLogic, in a statement.

The slowdown between July and August occurred in all housing categories, and that the slowdown probably can be attributed to either rising prices or a tight inventory, LePage noted.

The median price for a single-family home in Southern California last month was $438,000, unchanged from July but up 4.3 percent compared with August 2014. That was the second-highest median price recorded in Southern California – the Inland Empire plus Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties – since October 2007, according to CoreLogic.

The median sale price for Southern California has now gone up for 41 consecutive months.

Locally, sales were up 8.9 percent in Riverside County and 13.6 percent in San Bernardino County year-over-year.

Prices were also up in the Inland region: the $270,000 median price in San Bernardino County was a 12.5 percent increase from August of last year, while the $315,000 median price in Riverside County represented a 5.4 percent increase during that time, CoreLogic stated.