Another so-so month for housing market

Not horrible, but far from wonderful - just the continuation of a long-running story that centers on lots of foreclosures, too many homeowners under water, and stubbornly tight lending policies. L.A. home sales were up 6.6 percent in October compared with a year earlier, according to Dataquick, and down 11.5 percent from the previous month. A sales drop between September and October is typical, but last month's decline was especially large. L.A.'s median price of $300,000 was down 7.7 percent from a year earlier and 3.2 percent from September. From press release:

"For a few months now, lower prices and amazingly low mortgage rates have kept resale activity slightly ahead of last year. Of course, that's not saying a lot when you consider sales were 25 to 30 percent below average. The market continues to struggle with a difficult lending environment, uncertainty among potential buyers, underwater homeowners who can't move up, and a weak job market. The lower conforming loan limits implemented last month help explain the relatively sharp drop in mid- to high-end sales during October. Now we'll have to see if the private loan market can fill the void," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Those conforming loan limits were lowered from $729,750 to $625,500 in L.A. and Orange counties. October sales varied a lot, with lower-end homes showing the most activity and higher-end the least (anything above $800,000 took a real hit). Last month 17.4 percent of all sales were for $500,000 or more - the lowest portion since May 2009.

OCTOBER HOME SALES (% change from October 2010)
Los Angeles 5,830 +6.60%
Orange 2,241 -2.50%
Riverside 3,026 -7.30%
San Bernardino 2,300 -1.80%
Ventura 673 +8.70%

OCTOBER MEDIAN PRICE (% change from October 2010)
Los Angeles $300,000 -7.70%
Orange $405,000 -7.50%
Riverside $187,000 -5.60%
San Bernardino $150,000 0.00%
Ventura $335,000 -5.60%

Source: DQNews.com