Southern California home sales rose 65 percent in September, the biggest year-over-year increase in at least two decades, as buyers took advantage of foreclosures to buy properties at discounted prices, MDA DataQuick said.

A total of 20,497 new and existing houses and condominiums sold last month in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties. The rise from a year earlier was the biggest in MDA DataQuick’s records, which go back to 1988, and September’s sales count was the highest since December 2006, the San Diego-based company said today in a statement.

Sales increased the most in areas where rising foreclosure drove down prices, said MDA DataQuick. Sales of properties that had been foreclosed upon at some point in the prior year accounted for half of all Southern California transactions last month.

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