LA Home Prices Set New Record

LOS ANGELES, CA — The median price of a home in Los Angeles County reached a new all-time high last month surpassing the record set just before the housing bubble burst in 2007.

The median LA County home price rose by 6.8 percent in May, compared with the same month a year earlier, while the number of homes sold jumped by 4.8 percent, a real estate information service announced Wednesday.

According to CoreLogic, the median price of a Los Angeles County home was $560,500 last month, up from $525,000 in May 2016. A total of 7,585 homes were sold in the county, up from 7,240 during the same month the previous year.

In Orange County, the median price was $695,000 last month, up 6.7 percent from $651,500 in May 2016. The number of homes sold rose by 1.9 percent, from 3,612 in May 2016 to 3,682 last month.

A total of 23,478 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 15.8 percent from 20,278 in April and up 5.2 percent from 22,327 in May 2016.

The median price of a Southern California home was $492,000 in May, up 1.4 percent from $485,000 in April and up 7.1 percent from $459,500 in May 2016.

"Healthy demand continues to meet a relatively low inventory of homes for sale, helping to nudge prices higher," said Andrew LePage, research analyst with CoreLogic. "Last month's Southern California median sale price rose to within three percentage points of its all-time high, but in inflation- adjusted terms, it remains 15 percent below the peak reached a decade ago -- a peak made possible by a lot of very risky home loans."

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock