Home sales in Southern California hit their highest level for an August in six years last month, and the median price for a home in the region rose to a four-year high.
Sales rose 9.0% from the previous month and were 14.2% from the same month last year to total 22,438, real estate firm DataQuick reported. The lift in sales came as fewer foreclosures and low-end homes sold and the market for move-up and high-end up homes heated up, the firm reported.
The region’s median home price — the point at which half the homes in the area sold for more and half for less — hit $309,000 last month. That was up 1.0% from the prior month and 10.8% from the same month a year earlier.
Investors, cash buyers and low mortgage rates are turning Southern California into a turnaround market, research firm DataQuick said Thursday.
The counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange posted 22,438 new and resale home sales in August, up 14.2% from 19,654 sales a year earlier.
It’s also the highest August sales figure in six years as more buyers jumped into Southern California’s move-up market to take advantage of low mortgage rates, DataQuick suggested.
