SoCal housing market cools

The Southern California housing market, which was red hot earlier this year, continued to slow in July.

The median price of a home in the five-county region last month was a $530,000, a 5.8 percent increase year over year but still the weakest growth in 18 months, according to data released by CoreLogic.

Sales were up 0.3 percent during that time.

A combination of higher prices and mortgage rates, both of which have climbed more than half a percentage point during the past 12 months, “means the mortgage payment on the median-priced home in Southern California has risen about 13 percent over the past year,” said Andrew LePage, analyst with CoreLogic, in a statement.

Presumably, that trend is holding back the step-up market, while keeping a lot of people who wish to be first-time buyers from buying a house.

In the Inland Empire, the median price of a home in July – detached houses and condominiums – was $386,000 in Riverside County and $325,000 in San Bernardino County. Those were year-over-year increases of 5.8 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.

Sales were up 3.5 percent in Riverside County but were flat in San Bernardino County, which recorded a 0.6 percent increase, according to CoreLogic.