Southern California June median home price up 7% over May
July 15, 2009 | 11:53
am
Southern California's median home price bumped up to $265,000, according to DataQuick. That's about 7% above May's level and the first substantial increase since prices peaked in 2007.
DataQuick credits the jump to high-end sellers caving and thus moving sales volume of pricier homes a bit. Foreclosed homes also fell below a majority of homes sold in June, the first time in nine months. They accounted for 45% of sales.
There has been a backlog of foreclosed homes due to various moratoriums. Repossessions are down, but mortgage defaults keep rising. If lenders start to ramp up repossessions, the market share of foreclosed homes could go up again.
— Peter Y. Hong
Obviously Peter Hong knows the medium jump comes from a change in sales mix. So why does the headline boldly trumpet a "price surge" and not just report a more mundane "sales mix change"?
Posted by: copter | July 15, 2009 at 11:58 AM
This article appears everywhere with the title 'Southern California median home sales price surges in June'
Thank you! Most people will only read that title and run out to buy a home before they are priced out of the market forever! I am going to be rich! My phone is ringing right now.
Posted by: Ace | July 15, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Good news. This means that prices in pricier neighborhoods are finally coming down to earth, so the volume there is picking up.
Posted by: Bubblewatcher | July 15, 2009 at 12:56 PM
I think the title of this post is pretty fair and responsible. There's no rah-rah language like "prices surge!!!" (though we'll doubtlessly hear that from the CAR and other industry lobbyists). The increase is a fact, though careful watchers of the SoCal RE market understand that all this means is that the declines in price are becoming distributed throughout the range of homes from high to low, rather than being concentrated disproportionately in the low end.
Posted by: DF | July 15, 2009 at 03:44 PM
Why are we comparing May prices to June prices? The housing season is low in Jan/Feb, climbs through Aug/Sept, then lurches back down in the winter. The real news would be if prices DIDN'T rise from May to June.
Posted by: I Live in L.A., Too! | July 15, 2009 at 04:35 PM
We should be looking at YOY price comparisons not month to month. Everyone now knows this. With median price "surging", that means the Westside has started to cave in.
www.westsideremeltdown.blogspot.com
Posted by: Latesummer2009 | July 15, 2009 at 05:07 PM
The "surge" language is all hype in the headline, but the atticle actally paints a realistic picture of what is happening. Hopefully everyone actually reads the article and doesn't just stop with the headline.
Posted by: Ragnar | July 16, 2009 at 08:18 AM