Firm: Median home price in California jumps 21 percent in May from previous year

Firm: California median home price rises in month

LOS ANGELES — The median home price in California last month surged 20.9 percent from May 2009 to $278,000, as inventories of low-cost foreclosures dwindled and transactions in mid-range and high-end neighborhoods claimed a greater share of sales, a tracking firm reported Thursday.

Last month’s median was up from $230,000 a year ago and up 9 percent from $255,000 in April, San Diego-based MDA DataQuick said. The May median, which marked a seventh consecutive month of year-over-year increases, was at its highest level since October 2008.

DataQuick President John Walsh said some of the higher-priced homes were reaching the market because of increasing economic troubles among middle- and upper-class families, who are compelled to sell.

But he said low mortgage rates and the now-expiring federal tax credit for home buyers also had helped boost the proportion of more expensive homes within the sales mix.

“For now, at least, we’re seeing a more normal mix of sales across the region and across price categories,” Walsh said.

Sales of homes costing $500,000 or more made up 21.2 percent of all transactions in the state last month, up from 16.5 percent a year ago, DataQuick said.

Foreclosures, meanwhile, which typically account for the lowest-price homes, comprised 35.5 percent of resales last month, dropping from 50.2 percent a year ago to reach their lowest level since March 2008, the firm said.

John Husing, an economist with San Bernardino County-based Economics & Politics Inc., said there have been far fewer foreclosures on the market, as banks become increasingly willing to reach alternative arrangements with delinquent borrowers.

“Banks haven’t followed through on the foreclosure process, which means the supply of foreclosures hasn’t been entering the market and that has been slowing down sales,” Husing said.

Walsh, however, cautioned that banks are still thought to be carrying large numbers of foreclosed properties on their books and that it was unknown when and how these homes would go on sale.

“Price stability would be threatened if lenders suddenly pushed much larger numbers of distressed properties onto the market,” he said.

DataQuick also said 40,965 homes were sold in the region in May, up 4.9 percent from 39,051 in May 2009. May’s sales were up 9.3 percent from 37,481 in April.

In a nine-county region of Northern California, sales rose 11 percent to 8,264 in May from a year earlier. In the six-county region of Southern California, sales increased 7.2 percent to 22,720 from May 2009 .

The median home price in Northern California jumped 20.1 percent to $410,000 last month from $341,500 in April 2009. In Southern California, the median price surged 22.5 percent to $305,000, up from $249,000 in the year-ago period.