L.A. home prices slip

The June median price in L.A. County was $335,000, down $10,000 from the previous month, but up $15,000 from June 2009. Sales were up substantially compared with May and the like period a year earlier, according to Dataquick. Some of the sales uptick might be due to the federal tax credit program, which expired at the end of April. Without that government stimulus, the question is whether people will still want to buy homes. From the press release:

"The market was wildly out of kilter a year ago, now it's just somewhat out of kilter. We're still seeing lots of bargain hunting, and we're not seeing much discretionary buying. The single-biggest issue is still mortgage financing. Rates may be at record lows, but that doesn't mean much if the lender won't qualify you," said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president. "Still, more money was spent last month buying homes in Southern California than in the past two years, and more money was loaned. The tax credits had something to do with that, though it's not clear exactly how much. With the impact of the credits fading fast, the next few months will tell us a lot."

Foreclosure sales accounted for 33 percent of the Socal resale market last month, about the same as in May, and the percentage of sales at $500,000 or more was down slightly.

JUNE HOME SALES (% change from June 2009)
Los Angeles 7,849 2.8%
Orange 3,423 15.7%
Riverside 4,645 -1.0%
San Bernardino 3,179 -7.5%
Ventura 890 5.5%

JUNE MEDIAN HOME PRICES (% change from June 2009)
Los Angeles $335,000 4.7%
Orange $445,000 6.5%
Riverside $210,000 13.5%
San Bernardino $160,000 14.3%
Ventura $384,000 5.2%

Source: MDA DataQuick, DQNews.com