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LA home prices, sales up by more than 8 pct in December

January 19, 2016

LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The median price of a home in Los Angeles County rose by 8.1 percent in December, compared with the same month a year ago, while the number of homes sold went up by 8.2 percent, a real estate information service announced today.

According to CoreLogic, the median price of a Los Angeles County home was $500,000 last month, up from $462,500 in December 2014. A total of 7,196 homes were sold in the county, up from 6,649 during the same month the previous year.

In Orange County, the median price was $630,000 last month, up 8.2 percent from $582,000 in December 2014. The number of homes sold rose by 13.8 percent, from 2,817 in December 2014 to 3,206 last month.

A total of 20,890 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 33 percent from 15,711 in November and up 9.8 percent from 19,019 in December 2014.

The median price of a Southern California home was $443,000 in December, up 1 percent from $438,500 in November and up 6.7 percent from $415,000 in December 2014.

“Southern California’s housing market ended 2015 on a high note, but with a caveat,” said Andrew LePage, a research analyst for CoreLogic. “December home sales, which were the highest for that month in six years, got a boost from a batch of transactions that normally would have closed in November but were delayed by days or weeks as the industry adjusted to new federal mortgage rules that took effect in October.

“While it’s normal for home sales to rise between November and December, the 33 percent gain between those two months in 2015 was more than double the typical, historical increase of about 14 percent,” he said.