LA County’s median home price rises to $525K

Los Angeles County home prices are continuing to climb in the new year, with the median price jumping to $525,000 in January, according to a new report from CoreLogic.

That’s a 7.1 percent increase over January of 2016, when the median sale price for LA County was $490,000. It’s also a slight bump up from December’s median price of $520,000.

Meanwhile, the total number of homes sold in the county dropped from 6,861 in December to 5,177 in January. As the report notes, the dip isn’t surprising, given market trends that tend toward a lower number of homes sold around the holidays (sales recorded in January were likely negotiated in November and December).

Actually, the drop off in sales is, if anything, surprisingly small. Throughout Southern California, January sales were up more than 5 percent over the same month last year. With 15,422 total sales throughout the region, the number of homes bought in January was the most since 2013.

Courtesy of CoreLogic

Andrew LePage, a CoreLogic analyst, notes in the report that the fairly healthy January sales numbers could have been the result of consumers rushing to buy before interest rates, which rose following the election, could climb higher.

Throughout Southern California, median sale prices rose to $455,000 in January, from $432,250 the year before. The highest increases were in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties, where prices rose at least 6 percent since last year.

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