SoCal’s median home price increased 8.4% in March compared to a year earlier. This set a new all-time high, as hopeful buyers engaged in bidding wars over a limited supply of homes on the market.
The six-county region’s median price for new and resale houses and condos hit $519,000 last month, up $40,000 from a year earlier, real estate data provider CoreLogic said Monday. March’s median topped the previous all-time high of $509,500 set in December.
Sales, meanwhile, dropped by 6.2% when compared with the same month in 2017, partly because there were fewer homes on the market than in 2017.
“The rate we are seeing price appreciation is simply the lack of inventory,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist with California brokerage Pacific Union International.
Over the long tern, the current rate of home value increases is unsustainable, according to Hepp, who forecasts a slowdown to a 5% annual gain in 2019 and 2% a year later.
But prices are unlikely to decline, as the market isn’t driven by high risk loans, but rather a strong economy and tight inventory, according to Hepp.
Los Angeles County: The median price rose 6.6% to a record of $585,000.
Orange County: The price rose 8.7% to a record of $725,000.
Riverside County: The price rose 7.1% to $375,000.
San Bernardino County: The price rose 7.5% to $328,000.
San Diego County: The price rose 6.8% to a record of $550,000.
Ventura County: The price rose 5.6% to $565,000.
Sales in all six counties dropped compared with a year earlier. The biggest decrease was in Riverside County, where sales fell 8.1%.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-home-prices-20180423-story.html
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