SoCal-area home sales plummet

SoCal-area home sales plummet

	Published : Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:45 By : Agencies Print this Story

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Home sales across a six-county area of Southern California hit a 14-year low for June, with Riverside and San Bernardino counties leading a pronounced decline in sales of entry-level homes, a real estate research firm said Tuesday.

In all, 20,166 houses and condominiums were sold last month in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Orange and Ventura counties, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The total represents a 36.2 percent drop from June 2006 and an increase of 1.5 percent from sales in May.

Last month's sales fell to the lowest level for June since 1993, when 19,947 homes were sold, the firm said.

Home sales in the region have fallen on an annual basis for 21 consecutive months.

While sales of high-end homes have remained stable, many entry-level homes have been languishing unsold as would-be buyers try to time the market in hopes of seeing even lower prices.

As a result, sales declines have been concentrated in more affordable markets such as San Bernardino County, where sales plunged by 50.1 percent compared to the year-ago month. Neighboring Riverside County saw sales drop 47.2 percent.

Sales were down from 22 percent to 32 percent in the other counties.

'Today's buyers and sellers really need to move for one reason or another, not because they want a guest room or bigger yard,' Marshall Prentice, DataQuick's president, said in a statement.

'The exception seems to be high-end markets, most of which are doing pretty well,' he said.

Despite flagging sales, the median sale price of a home in the region increased 2.4 percent to $502,000, compared to $490,000 in June 2006, the firm said.

The figure marked a 0.6 percent decline from May.

Prices have been falling mostly on already lower-priced homes, while higher-end homes have seen prices remain flat or go higher. That's skewed the region's median sale price higher, DataQuick said.

The median price of homes in Los Angeles County rose to $545,000 in June, up 4.8 percent on an annual basis. It was the strongest increase in the region.

Ventura County posted the biggest annual decline, with its median price falling 6.9 percent to $582,000. It was followed by Riverside County, which had a drop of a 5.9 percent to $400,000.

San Bernardino County's median price remained flat at $365,000, while the figure rose 0.4 percent in Orange County to $645,000, the firm said.

The median price in San Diego County was $495,500, down 1.9 percent from the year-ago period.

Statewide home sales figures for June were expected to be released Wednesday.