Southern California home sales slide in August

Fading government stimulus and waning buyer enthusiasm caused Southern California’s housing market to soften in August — but not as badly as earlier in the summer. The median price for a Southland home in August dropped 2.4% from the month before to $288,000, the third consecutive month-to-month drop for the closely watched indicator, San Diego [...]

California home sales stall in July

California home prices remained almost flat in July but sales stalled as federal tax credits for buyers expired. The median price paid for a home last month was $268,000, down less than 1% from June, and up 7.2% from July 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego. The year-over-year increase was the ninth in [...]

Index of pending home purchases falls 2.6% in June

An index of home purchase contracts fell 2.6% in June from May as the expiration of federal tax incentives for buyers continued to damp demand from home shoppers for a second straight month, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. The trade group’s pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed for [...]

Southern California median home price surges 22.5%

The May increase to $305,000, compared with the same period a year earlier, reflects a shift in sales in the region. Purchases climb 7.2% as buyers rush to take advantage of tax incentives. The Southland’s housing market surged in May with the median home price soaring 22.5% from its year-earlier level as tax incentives for [...]

Home prices in March up from last year but down from February

Case-Shiller index of 20 metro areas shows prices up 2.3% in March from a year earlier. But they fell 0.5% from February. The mixed reading leaves economists disagreeing over where the market is headed. Home prices in 20 major cities gained ground in March for the second consecutive month compared with their beaten-down year-earlier levels, [...]

What buyers want in a home? Survey offers clues

Home buyers tend to want it all, especially in this age of affordability, when prices and mortgage rates are low. But this also is the age of frugality, a time of economic uncertainty when many people are not as concerned about their next pay raise as they are about the next round of layoffs. So [...]

Home resales fall in February

the 0.6% drop, less than expected, follows steeper declines in January and December. It comes KB Home reports a narrower loss in its first quarter. By Alejandro Lazo The Los Angeles Times The housing market stumbled anew in February as sales of previously owned homes fell for the third consecutive month and the number of [...]

California media home price jumps 11.2% in February

Analysts attribute the increase, to $249,000, to more higher-end houses and fewer bank-owned properties changing hands. By Alejandro Lazo The Los Angeles Times California’s median home price rose a robust 11.2% in February from the same period a year ago as fewer foreclosure properties sold, while the number of homes sold fell 3.8%. The median [...]

Southern California home prices rise 10% in February

Led by double-digit jumps in coastal areas, the median sales price for the region reaches $275,000. The number of homes sold was nearly flat, up only 0.8%. By Alejandro Lazo The Los Angeles Times Southland home prices jumped 10% in February compared with the same month last year as foreclosure sales dropped significantly. San Diego [...]

Pending home sales index drops 7.6% in January

The National Assn. of Realtors index of deals under contract fell to 90.4 from 97.8 in December. It’s 12.3% higher than January 2009. By Alejandro Lazo The Los Angeles Times In another sign that the U.S. housing recovery might be on a shaky foundation, the number of homes placed under sales contract fell 7.6% in [...]