With SoCal Prices Still Heading Up, Sales Are Still Plummeting

The numbers are in for Los Angele's May housing market and they are carrying on the trend we've seen in recent months: prices continue to rise (although not as rapidly) while the number of sales falls. New data from Dataquick, as seen in the LA Times, show that prices in Southern California have gone up 1.5 percent from April this year and 11.4 percent from this month last year—the smallest gain in almost two years. (Still, the median in LA County is a painful $450,000.) The number of sales is about 15 percent below where it was a year ago, making this the eighth straight month that the number has dropped. It's a continuation of what we keep seeing: all the cheapish stock has dried up, having been snapped up by investors, who are now fleeing to more expensive parts of the market, leaving only "regular buyers." The average potential homebuyer is up against a lot, not least of which are the listing prices, but the slow sales are giving buyers a little bit more power than they've had recently. This plateau could actually be a good thing; a rep for Dataquick says the numbers suggest that the market might be "moving back towards a normal state." Imagine that!
· Once-hot Southern California housing market further cooled in May [LAT]
· All of LA's Cheap Housing is Getting Way More Expensive [Curbed LA]