So what else is new, right? L.A. County home sales fell 23 percent in July from a year earlier, which is at least better than the huge drops in Riverside and San Bernardino (41.9 percent and 42.6 percent, respectively). All told, Socal home sales last month were down 27 percent, which is the slowest July since 1995. It’s worth noting that in 1995 L.A. was struggling to get out of a prolonged recession, while this time around the overall economy is doing up reasonably well. "Sellers are holding out and we can only assume demand is building up," said Marshall Prentice, president of DataQuick, which prepared the numbers. That might explain why L.A. median home prices last month rose 5.3 percent, to $547,500 (that's new and resale homes). Much of the increase is attributed to sales at the high end. Other Socal markets saw slight price declines.

HOME SALES (JULY*)
Los Angeles -23.0%
Orange -19.8%
Riverside -41.9%
San Bernardino -42.6%
San Diego -13.3%
Ventura -16.7%

MEDIAN PRICES (JULY*)
Los Angeles $547,500 +5.3%
Orange $640,000 0.0%
Riverside $399,000 -3.9%
San Bernardino $355,000 -3.1%
San Diego $489,000 -2.2%
Ventura $582,500 -5.1%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems, DQNews.com
*Compared with July 2006