California’s swelling inventory of unsold homes continued to balloon during December, while median prices dropped in nearly every region surrounding the greater Los Angeles area, the California Association of Realtors announced Tuesday.
The Unsold Inventory Index jumped to 15 months, nearly three times the 5.9 months of a year earlier. The index tracks the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate.
The association also reported home sales decreased 33 percent statewide in December compared to a year earlier, while the median price of an existing home fell 17 percent.
In Los Angeles County, the median sales price in December was $487,190, down 6.5 percent from November and down 11 percent year-over-year.
“December is typically one of the slower months for sales, and the liquidity crunch continued to dampen sales beyond the normal seasonal decrease,” said association President William Brown.
The hardest hit areas in the county were Pasadena, which saw a 30 percent decline in median sales price to $510,000, along with West Hollywood, which posted a 26 percent decline year-over-year to $582,500. South Gate saw a 20 percent drop to $390,000.
