County Housing Prices Rise in October, Sales Drop

The median price of a home in Riverside County rose by 9.2 percent in October, compared with the same month a year ago, while the number of homes sold dipped by 4.9 percent, a real estate information service announced Wednesday.

According to CoreLogic DataQuick, the median price of a Riverside County home was $294,750 last month, up from $270,000 in October 2013. A total of 3,118 homes were sold in the county, down from 3,277 during the same month the previous year.

A total of 19,271 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 DataQuick. That was down 0.4 percent from 19,348 in September and down 4.4 percent from 20,150 in October 2013.

The median price for a Southern California home was $410,000 in October, down 0.7 percent from $413,000 in September and up 6.8 percent from $383,750 in October 2013.

“It was another sub-par month for Southern California home sales,” said Andrew LePage, CoreLogic DataQuick analyst. “We’ve yet to see traditional buyers fill the void left by the drop-off in investor and cash buyers, which began in spring last year.

“Of course, there are multiple reasons for this year’s lackluster sales. New-home transactions are still running at about half their normal level. The resale market is hampered by constrained inventory in many areas, in part because some people who want to put their homes up for sale still haven’t regained enough equity to purchase their next home. Then there are the would-be buyers who continue to struggle with affordability and mortgage availability, if not uncertainty over their employment or the direction of the housing market.”

--City News Service.

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