LA County Home Prices See Sharp Increase

LOS ANGELES, CA — The median price of a home in Los Angeles County rose by 7.6 percent in January compared with the same month a year earlier, while the number of homes sold dropped by 6.6 percent, a real estate information service announced Tuesday.

According to CoreLogic, the median price of a Los Angeles County home was $565,000 last month, up from $525,000 in January 2017. A total of 4,847 homes were sold in the county, down from 5,188 during the same month the previous year.

In Orange County, the median price was $690,000 last month, up 8.8 percent from $634,000 in January 2017. The number of homes sold dropped by 4.4 percent, from 2,336 in January 2017 to 2,234 last month.

A total of 15,247 new and resale houses and condos changed hands in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month, according to CoreLogic. That was down 23 percent from 19,800 in December, and down 1.5 percent from 15,475 in January 2017.

The median price of a Southern California home was $507,000 in January, down 0.5 percent from $509,500 in December but up 11.4 percent from $455,000 in January 2017.

"A fairly sharp drop in recorded home sales between December and January is normal," said Andrew LePage, research analyst with CoreLogic. "Not everyone wants to buy and sell around the holidays, meaning there are fewer deals to record in January and February -- two relatively slow months that tend not to be predictive of the year."

City news Service; Photo: Shutterstock