California home sales mixed by region; prices post record declines
With sales up slightly in Southern California and down in the San Francisco Bay Area, the only trait common to these regions in May was a sharp drop-off in median home price from last year’s level, according to real estate information service DataQuick.

The median home price paid in Southern California fell a record 27 percent from a year ago — from $505,000 to $370,000 — because of sluggish high-end sales, more sellers dropping their asking prices, and lenders selling off more of their aggressively priced, repossessed homes.

In the Bay Area, the median price paid was $517,000 last month, down 0.2 percent from $518,000 in April, and down a record 21.7 percent from $660,000 a year ago.

And while Southern California home sales picked up in May they were still the weakest on record for that month, according to DataQuick’s statistics, which go back to 1988.

Some 16,917 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month, up 8.3 percent from 15,615 in April but down 14.9 percent from 19,874 in May last year.

Sales of post-foreclosure homes continue to dominate many inland markets, DataQuick reported. Of all the Southland homes that resold in May, 37.4 percent had been foreclosed on at some point in the prior 12 months, compared with a revised 36.2 percent in April and 5.5 percent one year ago. Across the six-county area, these "foreclosure resales" ranged from 25.6 percent of resale activity in Orange County to 56.6 percent in Riverside County.

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