The median price of an existing home in the Los Angeles region jumped from the year-earlier period in February and rose slightly from January as homes sales continued to decline across Southern California, the California Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

February’s median price of $565,600 was 19.4 percent higher than February 2005’s $473,550 and 0.9 percent higher than January’s $560,740. Sales of median-priced homes in the L.A. area plunged 17.9 percent from the year-prior and 5.8 percent from December.

Statewide, the median price of an existing home rose 13.7 percent to $535,470 from a year earlier and slipped 2.9 percent from January. Sales dropped 15.5 percent from February 2005 but edged up 2.7 percent from January.

In Orange County, the median price of $721,190 was 8.7 percent higher than a year ago; its sales were down 27.3 percent over a year earlier and 9.1 percent from January. San Diego County’s $608,770 was 4.8 percent above February 2005, and its sales dipped 13.4 percent from the year-prior period but climbed 4.8 percent from two months ago.

Thirty-year fixed mortgage interest rates averaged 6.25 percent during February, compared with 5.63 percent a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac. Adjustable mortgage interest rates averaged 5.34 percent last month, compared with 4.16 percent a year prior. The average number of days it took to sell a single-family home was 52 days in February, compared with 40 days for the same period a year ago.

“Sales posted a slight increase last month compared with January 2006, as the downward drift in interest rates late last year caused an uptick in market activity,” said CAR. President Vince Malta. “As expected, year-over-year sales continued to decline from the robust levels of a year ago.”