by Calculated Risk on 12/15/2005 07:19:00 PM

DataQuick reports: Southland home sales strong, prices hit new peak

Southern California home sales remained at near- record levels last month as prices continued their climb to new heights ...

A total of 27,637 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 3.0 percent from 28,489 in October, and up 0.6 percent from 27,459 for November last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

A decline from October to November is normal for the season. The strongest November in DataQuick's statistics was in 1988 when 29,303 homes were sold. The slowest November was in 1991 when 13,537 homes were sold. So far this year 326,746 Southland homes have been sold, virtually unchanged from 326,880 for the first eleven months of last year.
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The median price paid for a Southern California home was $479,000 last month, a new record. That was up 1.3 percent from $473,000 in October, and up 15.4 percent from $415,000 for November 2004. Annual price increases have been in the mid teens since April.
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The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $2,238 last month, up from $2,169 for the previous month, and up from $1,830 for November a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are about the same as they were in the spring of 1989, at the peak of the prior real estate cycle.