Would-be home buyers continued to sit on the sidelines last month, driving down Southern California home sales to their lowest pace in 12 years and pressing down prices in the region’s less-expensive neighborhoods, data released today showed.

Yet even as home sales fell 27% regionwide, the median price of all homes sold in the Southland’s six counties rose 3.7%, to $505,000, in July compared to a year ago, thanks to more robust sales at the high-end of the market, according to real estate research firm DataQuick Information Systems.

It’s a phenomenon that has been occurring for much of the year. But local real estate watchers say pricier areas could start to see weaker sales in the coming months. What’s more, the recent turmoil in the global credit markets has already started to affect the ability of even the most creditworthy borrowers to get mortgage loans.

Last month, Orange County’s median was flat at $640,000, as sales fell 19.8%. The more affordable Inland Empire counties of Riverside and San Bernardino saw prices decline more than 3% from a year ago while sales tumbled more than 40%. Los Angeles County’s median price rose 5.3%, to $547,000, and sales slid 23%.

“A decline in prices, like increases, tends to be self-fulling,” said Michael Carney, head of Cal Poly Pomona’s Real Estate Research Council. “If buyers see prices falling, they hold off and don’t buy and cause prices to fall even further. But it takes a while.

“The different counties don’t move in different directions,” he added.

Even though the number of foreclosures in the region is rising at a record pace, foreclosures have yet to have a market-wide effect on prices, DataQuick found. Last month, foreclosures accounted for 8.3% of July’s sales activity, up from 7.7% in June, and up from 2% in July of last year, the research firm said.

A total of 17,867 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 11.4% for June and down a whopping 54% from July 2003, when the region’s housing market was on fire and July sales hit a record. Last month’s sales were the slowest for any July since 1995, DataQuick said.

San Diego and Ventura counties continued to post lower sales and prices. In San Diego, the median fell 2.2%, to $489,000, as sales fell 13.3%, and in Ventura, the median price fell 5.1%, while sales dropped 16.7%.

Riverside County’s median fell 3.9%, to $399,000, as sales plunged 42%, and San Bernardino’s median fell 3.1%, to $355,000, and sales slid 42.6%.

At $505,000, the Southland’s median home price last month was the same as the high recorded in March, April and May, and it was up 0.6% from $502,000 for June. The median price is the point at which half of all homes sold for more, half for less.

DataQuick Information Systems calculates the median based on all closed transactions in the 30-day period ended July.

Source:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-ochomes14aug14,1,1555858.story?ctrack=1&cset=true