…Home prices surge in Southern California and nationwide. There’s a lot of demand, and houses for sale are still scarce.

In Los Angeles County, the median price in June jumped 7.4% from a year earlier to $569,000, surpassing the previous record set in May. In Orange County, the median was up 6.1% from 2016 and tied a record reached the previous month at $695,000.

Across the six-county region, the median price — the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less — rose 7.5% from a year earlier and is now just 1% off of its all-time high of $505,000 reached in 2007, according to a report out Tuesday from CoreLogic.

The price increase was even greater than the 7.1% rise recorded in May, and some agents say there are no signs of a slowdown in the Southern California market.

Home prices have now been rising for more than five years, the result of a growing economy, rock-bottom mortgage rates and a shortage of homes on the market.

Those factors have led to a surge in prices nationally as well.

The Case-Shiller index, also released Tuesday, showed prices across the country jumped 5.6% in May from a year earlier. The index lags other price indicators, but is widely considered the most reliable read on home values and offers a more accurate depiction of where the market is headed than the median price.

CoreLogic’s report showed that home prices in Southern California rose in every county last month compared to a year earlier, not just in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

In San Bernardino County, the median was up 12.3% to $320,000; in Riverside County, 7.5% to $357,000; in Ventura County, 2.7% to $565,000; and in San Diego County, 9.8% to $543,500. Across the region, sales rose 4.3%….

Source: Home prices in parts of Southern California are at record highs — and keep rising – LA Times

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