Southern California home sales slowed for the fifth consecutive month in November, while prices set a new record, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 27,459 homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in November, down 2.6 percent from October’s 28,189, and down 0.6 percent from 27,628 for November last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
A decline from October to November is normal for the season. Last month’s sales count was the third-strongest November in DataQuick’s records, behind the year-ago number, and behind November 1988 when 29,303 homes were sold.
“The numbers are stronger than most analysts expected. While sales are still shifting to lower-cost areas, even Orange County had a relatively good month. A predicted slowdown in appreciation rates hasn’t kicked in yet, although we still expect that to happen in the near future,” said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.
The median price paid for a Southern California home was $415,000 last month, another record. That was up 1.2 percent from $410,000 in October, and up 23.5 percent from $336,000 for November 2003. With the exceptions of January and July, all months this year have set price records.
DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.
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