Southern California, Inland home sales drop

Southern California home sales fell 11.8 percent year over year in June, according to data.

In all, 22,706 new and existing houses and condominiums changed hands in the six county region – the Inland Empire plus Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties – last month, Irvine-based CoreLogic reported.

The median price of a home – $536,250 – was a 7.3 percent increase from June 2017, but rising prices are only one reason why a lot of people who want to buy a home aren’t able to do so, said Andrew LePage, analyst with CoreLogic.

“The median price paid for a home last month was up 7.3 percent year over year, but the principal-and-interest mortgage payment on that median-priced home was up more than twice as much – around 16 percent – because of the rise in mortgage rates over the past year.” LePage said in a statement.

In the Inland Empire, sales were down 11.5 percent in Riverside County and 11.6 percent in San Bernardino County. Median prices were $380,000 in Riverside County and $334,000 in San Bernardino County, increases of seven and 4.4 percent respectively, according to CoreLogic.