Southern California home prices reached the highest level in Dec. in more than nine years.
A better economy and a shortage of homes for sale combined to jump prices up 6.8% from a year earlier, real estate data firm CoreLogic said Tuesday. Decembers median price of $470,000 was up 1.1% from a month earlier.
In Los Angeles County, the median price last month climbed 4% from a year earlier to $520,000; in Orange County, 5.3% to $665,000; in Ventura County, 5.9% to $519,000; in San Bernardino County, 8.7% to $299,000; in Riverside County, 8% to $345,750; and in San Diego County, 4.2% to $495,000.
In December, the California Assn. of Realtors showed there was only a 2.6-month supply of homes on the market in Los Angeles and Orange counties meaning no homes would be available for sale after 2.6 months if sales continued at their current pace and no new listings emerged.
The Realtors consider a six- to seven-month supply to be a market that favors neither buyers nor sellers.
