Southern California median home price rises 14 percent in March compared with a year ago

SoCal median home price rises in March

LOS ANGELES — The median home price in Southern California rose 14 percent last month from March 2009, as more high-end homes trickled into the region’s sales mix, a tracking firm said Tuesday.

San Diego-based MDA DataQuick reported that last month’s median of $285,000 was up from $250,000 in March 2009 and up almost 4 percent from February’s $275,000.

The increase came as the proportion of sales tilted away from low-cost foreclosures and toward pricier homes in more expensive neighborhoods.

March’s sales of homes priced at $500,000 or more made up 19.4 percent of all transactions, compared with 18.5 percent in February and 14.9 percent in March 2009.

Foreclosures, meanwhile, accounted for about 38 percent of resales last month, down from nearly 55 percent a year ago.

DataQuick also said home sales rose about 33 percent to almost 20,500 from about 15,400 in February and about 5 percent from around 19,000 in March 2009, marking the 21st month in a row that home sales increased from their year-ago numbers.

DataQuick President John Walsh said the increases showed that the market was continuing on a slow, upward trajectory, but that sales still remain well below their March average of around 25,000.

“It’s a reflection of just how grim things got, that we’ve now had almost two years of sales gains and we’re still 18 percent below the sales average,” he said.

Walsh said banks were still not extending enough loans to restore sales to their once-normal levels.

“The market won’t rebalance until mortgage lending patterns normalize, and that’s just not happening yet,” he said.