Sales of single-family homes in Southern California declined in February, although home prices in the region continued to rise due to a lack of inventory, according to the California Association of Realtors.
Sales in Southern California declined 2.8 percent compared to a year earlier, with Ventura County declining the most at 7.1 percent. Riverside County showed the smallest decline at 0.8 percent. The Los Angeles metro region experienced a 2.5 percent annual sales drop while Inland Empire sales fell 1.2 percent.
The Los Angeles metro area’s median sale price in February 2018 was $497,730 – up 9.5 percent from a year earlier and up 1.1 percent from January. The median sale price in Los Angeles County rose 12.1 percent year over year while Orange County’s median sale price gained 8.1 percent, setting a new record high median price of $805,380.
The median sale price in the Inland Empire was $352,570 last month – up 7.7 percent on an annual basis and up 0.8 percent on a monthly basis.
The statewide numbers show a 5.4 percent increase in single-family home sales in February over last year and up 3.3 percent over January’s numbers. Existing family home sales totaled 422,910 units last month, CAR said, basing its numbers on information collected from more than 90 realtor associations in California. The statewide median home price was $522,440 – up 8.8 percent from February 2017, but a 1 percent decline from January 2018.
The numbers were sharply split based on price. Statewide, the sale of homes priced under $200,000 declined 23 percent year over year while the sale of homes priced $2 million and higher increased by 31.1 percent.
The state’s growth in home sales was led by the San Francisco Bay area, with San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties all posting record median sales price numbers. As a region, the Bay Area had the largest sales gain with a 7.1 percent annual increase.
Eight of nine Bay Area counties saw sales increases. San Francisco, which boasted the state’s highest median home sales price at $1.73 million, was the lone Bay Area county with a year-over-year drop in sales.
Real estate reporter Ciaran McEvoy can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8337.
