SoCal Home Prices Keep On Rising and People Keep On Buying

LOS ANGELES, CA - The median price of a home in Los Angeles County rose by 4.2 percent in February, compared with the same month a year ago, while the number of homes sold went up by 10.4 percent, a real estate information service announced Wednesday.

According to CoreLogic, the median price of a Los Angeles County home was $486,523 last month, up from $467,000 in February 2015. A total of 5,186 homes were sold in the county, up from 4,696 during the same month the previous year.

In Orange County, the median price was $610,000 last month, up 3.4 percent from $590,000 in February 2015. The number of homes sold rose by 9.2 percent, from 2,119 in February 2015 to 2,315 last month.

A total of 15,373 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 up 5.1 percent from 14,633 in January and up 9.1 percent from 14,096 in February 2015.

The median price of a Southern California home was $430,000 in February, down 0.5 percent from $432,250 in January and up 3.7 percent from $414,500 in February 2015.

"So far this year, Southern California home sales are off to a stronger start than last year, with the total number of deals recorded in January and February rising 8 percent compared with the same time in 2015," said Andrew LePage, a research analyst for CoreLogic. "The caveat is that the picture varies by price category. While January-February sales above $500,000 rose 18 percent year over year, sales below $300,000 fell 4 percent. Also, overall February 2016 sales remained 11 percent below the average sales level for that month over the last quarter-century."

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock