L.A. Home Sales Off in January

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January home sales in Los Angeles plunged 11.4 percent from a year earlier and 23.6 percent from December, as many potential buyers decided to sit out the real estate market’s off- season.


Home sales in Los Angeles County in January totaled 6,761 compared with the year-earlier period’s 7,633 and the median price rose 17.6 percent to $487,000 from January 2005’s $414,000, La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems said.


In December, the price was $490,000 and sales were 8,845. January’s results were off 0.6 percent from last month’s median price but were down a whopping 23.6 percent in total sales.


A decline from December to January is normal for the season, DataQuick said, as the first month of the year is typically a weak month for new home sales.


A total of 20,085 homes were sold in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the lowest of any January since 2001. That was down 30.6 percent from 28,952 in December and 7.4 percent from 21,680 a year earlier.


In Southern California, the median price paid for a home last month was $469,000, down 2.1 percent from a record of $479,000 in November and December. Last month’s median was up 13 percent from $415,000 a year earlier.


“Trends in January and February are notoriously bad at predicting upcoming activity,” said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick’s president, in a statement. “There’s nothing really ominous in the numbers, but we won’t know for another couple of months.”

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