State housing market stays solid

California’s housing market stayed healthy in October, maintaining sales above pre-pandemic levels despite a decline in year-over-year sales for the fourth consecutive month.

Sales of existing single-family detached homes totaled 434,170 last month, according to data collected from more than 90 realtors statewide, according to the California Realtors Association in Los Angeles.

That was a 0.9 percent drop from September and a 10.4 percent decline year-over-year. However, home sales statewide were up 13.4 percent during the first 10 months of the year, indicating the market has withstood the pandemic.

“Despite a slowdown in sales from last year’s robust fall season, the California housing market continues to stabilize and is outperforming the pre-pandemic levels observed in 2017, 2018, and 2019,” association Vice President and Chief Economist Jordan Levine said in a statement.  “While the market is showing signs of cooling off in recent months, 2021 continues to outpace last year’s sale level, so far, and is expected to post a gain at year-end.”

Statewide, the median home price in October, was $798,440, down 1.3 percent from September and up 12.3 percent from October 2020.

In Riverside County, the median price of a single-family detached home last month was $580,000, up $1.8 percent from September and 19.6 percent year-over-year.