Tale of two markets

Peter Viles at L.A. Land points out that while Socal saw a 65 percent jump in home sales last month (44 percent in L.A. County), sales of non-foreclosed homes fell from year-ago levels. Considering how weak the housing market was in September 2007, that's saying something. Viles calculates that sales of previously foreclosed homes jumped 553 percent in the past year, while sales of non-foreclosures fell by 5.8 percent.

In other words, there are two distinct housing markets in the region right now: the market for previously foreclosed houses, which is booming, and the market for non-foreclosed houses, which is arguably slower than ever before.

It's also worth noting that much of the sales activity is coming from the inland areas, including Antelope Valley, Riverside, San Bernardino, etc. That's also where most of the foreclosures have been. "If you look at a place like Malibu, values may go up and down, but it is a place where land is genuinely scarce. There’s no substitute for it," Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, told me the other day.