SoCal home price reaches record high $753K as transactions fall

Home prices across Southern California have ratcheted up to a record $753,000 as sales plunge.

The price of a typical home in March rose 1.8 percent from the previous month, and 8 percent in a year, beating an April 2022 record by $3,000, the Orange County Register reported, citing figures from CoreLogic.

Specifically, record prices were set in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties.

At the same time, home buying across the six-county region fell 8 percent year-over-year to 14,176 completed sales of existing and new houses, townhomes and condos.

That’s the second-lowest sales for a March across the Southland since 1988, and 39 percent below average. Only March 2008, during a global financial collapse, had fewer sales. 

March, normally a season of frenetic home buying, saw sales rise 14 percent from February — the smallest increase in 37 years of Southern California records. The typical sales gain from February to March is 36 percent.

The past two years were the slowest for SoCal home sales in 36 years of record-keeping. The lethargic home buying was caused by pricier financing and stubbornly high prices, pushing potential buyers out of the market, according to the Register.

Interest rates for a 30-year benchmark loan from Freddie Mac averaged 6.82 percent in March, up from 6.64 percent in January and 6.54 percent a year ago. This month, rates have averaged 7 percent.

New home sales were flat, at 1,186 new homes purchased across Southern California last month, 8.4 percent of all March sales, the smallest share for local builders since last August.

High home prices equate to a typical $3,935 monthly house payment — the fifth-highest on record for a March buyer in Southern California, assuming the purchase of a typical home with a 20 percent down payment. 

There were 21,100 Southern California residences listed for sale last month, according to Realtor.com, up 9 percent in a year. In March 2019, there were 42,700 homes on the market.

Last month, there were  4,517 home sales in Los Angeles County, up 21 percent in the month, but the second slowest March since 1988, according to the Register. The median home price rose 6 percent in a year to $850,000.

The typical home price in Orange County rose 17 percent in a year to a record $1.15 million. In Riverside County, the price of a median home rose 8 percent in a year to a record $577,000, while the typical home price in San Diego County rose 9 percent in a year to a record $865,000.

— Dana Bartholomew

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