In Southern California, where national real estate trends often start, home sales increased for the 11th consecutive month in May. Also, the number of sold $500,000-plus homes is beginning to revive, according to DataQuick, a real estate information service. The median price paid for homes increased a bit during the month from the previous month. That's the first month-to-month increase in median prices since July, 2007.
The current activity reflects a shift in market activity where sales of deeply discounted foreclosed properties decreased and mid- to high-end properties increased, it was reported. Foreclosed homes accounted for 50.2 percent of sales in the Southern California region in May - down from 53.5 percent in the previous month and from a peak of 56.7 percent in February. May's figure was the lowest since foreclosure resale homes were 50.9 percent of all resale homes last October.
On the national scene, home resales increased by 2.4 percent in May over the previous month, according to the National Association of Realtors. About 38 of the top 100 metro areas avoided declines in home prices over the past year, it was noted in a report from the Brookings Institute. Most of these areas experienced below-average employment declines and are located in less-affected parts of the manufacturing centers of the country.
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