Housing sales perk up

Single-family home sales in Southern California were up 11 percent in March compared with the previous year, while median prices hit their highest point in more than seven years.

Last month, sales of new and previously owned houses and condominiums reached 19,603, up from 17,638 in March 2014, according to Irvine-based CoreLogic’s monthly report on the six-county region’s housing market.

That was a jump of 44 percent compared with February, when 13,650 units were sold in Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties, the report stated.

Any uptick in homes sales is good news, but this month’s report is particularly so: sales in Southern California have dropped nine times during the previous year. Even with the increase, home sales for the month of March were nearly 20 percent below the average for that month dating back to 1988, when the monthly report began.

A lack of inventory, especially among lower priced homes, is still plaguing the market, CoreLogic noted.

On the buyer’s side of the ledger, the median price of a single-family home in March was $425,000, a six percent year-over-year increase and the highest median price since December 2007, CoreLogic stated.

In San Bernardino County, sales were up 12 percent in March compared with one year ago, and median price of a home – $250,000 – represented a nine percent increase during that time.

In Riverside County, sales were up 5.7 percent year-over-year in March, and the $301,000 median price was a 4.3 percent increase compared with March 2014 according to CoreLogic.