Together with the spiraling Gold and Oil prices (and silver, and copper, etc., etc.) Home prices continue to go up, at least in So Cal...I sure am glad inflation is under control :sarcasm:
SoCal Home Prices Edge Over $500,000
By Jesus Sanchez, Times Staff Writer
11:17 AM PDT, April 18, 2006
Southern California's median home price edged over the $500,000 level for March despite deteriorating sales, according to a real estate report released today.It was the first time the regional figure had crossed $500,000, though some counties had reached that level before. The median sales price for all residential properties in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties jumped 14.1% from the same month last year to $501,000, according to the research firm DataQuick Information Systems.
Sales, however, dropped more than 9.7% on a year-over-year basis to 29,509 new and existing homes. San Bernardino County led the region with a 23.2% spike in the median sales price to $367,000. San Diego County, which has experienced a pronounced slow down in sales activity, came in last with an increase of 5.7% to $504,000. Orange County, the Southland's most expensive market, posted a 10.3% increase in the median sales price to $623,000. The median price rose 14% in Ventura County to $610,000. The Los Angeles County median sales price, which was reported last week, climbed 15% to $506,000.
"We still expect the annual increase in median to go down into the single digits sometime this summer," said DataQuick President Marshall Prentice in a statement. "San Diego County is still the market furthest along in this cycle. Price increases there have been below ten percent the last eleven months."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-041806homes_lat,0,395447.story?coll=la-home-headlines