LA Foreclosures Way Down, Homes Sales Over $800k Way Up

The Southern California real estate market had its busiest April since 2006, with the number of homes sold up nearly 10 percent from last April, and the average price up 23 percent from a year ago, according to the latest numbers from DataQuick. In LA County, the median sale price is up 27 percent, to $395,000--that's $15k higher than last month. The company attributes the rise in median prices to rising values, but it's also the specific houses that are selling: the number of foreclosures continues to drop, slowing sales at the bottom of the market, and there was a 50 percent increase in houses that sold for more than $800,000 compared to last year. The number of flips and houses sold to absentee or cash buyers were all down a bit from March. But while the price recovery seems to continue to gather momentum (though flips and sales to investors remain higher than in 2012), DataQuick does always like to remind us that prices are still well below the 2007 peak--29.3 percent below, to be exact.
· Highest Southland April Home Sales Since '06; Median Price Nears 5-Yr High [DQ]
· State O' The Market Archives [Curbed LA]