Home Sales Stay Red-Hot in November

If November was any indication, Southern California’s housing market should continue to thrive in the months ahead.

The median price of homes sold last month in Los Angeles County jumped 20.6% from a year earlier to a record $339,000, according to a report by DataQuick Information Systems, a real estate data provider based in La Jolla. In Orange County, the median price rose 14.1% to $437,000.

Sales edged up 3.2% in Los Angeles County to 9,388 units, and they held steady in Orange County, where 3,731 new and existing houses and condos changed hands last month.

Analysts said the still-heated market continued to drive quick sales and reward decisive buyers who hustled to tie up properties ahead of the competition.

The chronic shortage of homes for sale, coupled with attractively low mortgage rates, should keep the pressure on buyers, said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Assn. of Realtors.

“The message is, ‘Boy, this is the time,’ � Young said. “It doesn’t look like the situation is going to change anytime soon.�

November was the strongest month of the year for home sale closings at ERA Real Estate in north Orange County, general manager Mike Cocos said. With the economy improving and interest rates and supplies remaining low, he said, “there’s a perfect storm.�

DataQuick analyst John Karevoll said the market should stay that way at least through spring.

“We’re always looking for a turn in the market, but there’s no way to cook the books and come up with the conclusion that prices are going to decline,� Karevoll said. “Any signs of distress are virtually absent.�

The November price data were strong for all categories of homes in Los Angeles County. The median price of existing single-family houses rose 19.1% on a year-over-year basis to $345,500. New-home prices rose 21.1% to $445,000. Condominiums, an increasingly popular category among buyers as detached-home values continue to rise, saw a 25% price jump in November to $275,000.

In Orange County, existing single-family home prices last month rose 17.6% from a year earlier to $470,500, while new-home prices held steady at $561,000. The median cost of a condominium jumped 22.6% to $309,000.

The rate of appreciation in November was less in Orange County, Karevoll said, because it led Los Angeles County in the recovery of home prices and is further along in the real estate cycle.

At the same time, the dwindling supply of land for new homes is driving prices up in Orange County, said Steve High, president of Strada Properties in Newport Beach. The brokerage firm, which has two offices and 225 agents, has just been acquired by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

High, who will become an executive vice president at Coldwell Banker when the acquisition is completed next year, said rising prices and continued rapid sales this year had come as a surprise after records were set in 2002 that looked like they might stand for years. In Newport Beach, he noted, the median price of homes has surpassed $1.3 million.

“Even guys like me who do this for a living are constantly astounded by the pace of the marketplace,� he said.

Home sales in Los Angeles and Orange counties account for more than half the housing activity in Southern California. Data for other Southland counties are expected to be released today.