More on Southern California median home prices

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The full version of the Times story on Southern California home prices is now up on the website. The median rose a bit in May, to $249,000 from $247,000 in April. But that’s more a sign of the changing mix of sales -- more high-priced homes are moving as sellers cut prices. That moves the median up even as prices fall at the high end.

Not surprisingly, price gains were more substantial in Orange, Ventura and San Diego counties, which have higher median incomes than Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where the median price held steady.

Economist Christopher Thornberg says prices are approaching bottom but cautions that we’re not there yet. He says reaching the bottom is not the same as coming off of it -- even when prices stop falling, they can stay down for quite some time as foreclosed homes wait to be sold and unemployment remains high.

-- Peter Y. Hong