All Around Los Angeles Real Estate

Several area cities posted big year-over-year price gains. La Mirada's median price rose 14.3 percent in November to $400,000 compared with $350,000 a year earlier.

Other notable gains included Diamond Bar (13.9 percent), Alhambra (12.6 percent), La Crescenta (12.3 percent) and Monterey Park (10.9 percent).

On the other hand, many
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communities saw their median home prices fall, including San Gabriel (-13.4 percent), Baldwin Park (-9.7 percent), El Monte (-6.1 percent) and La Verne (-8.9 percent).

Home sales in California rose 4.7 percent in November compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home rose 5.8 percent to $304,520.

Baldridge said the concept of a "median home price" - the point at which half the homes cost more and half less - is somewhat misleading because much of the market activity occurs below the median level.

"The bottom part of the market is just on fire,". "If a house is in decent shape at all, sellers are getting more money than they're asking for. But the median price skews that, particularly in the Whittier and East Los Angeles areas where sales of homes priced at $600,000 and up is really slow, but the sub-$400,000 market is on fire."


Inventories are extremely tight, he said, but that will change come January because banks that have been holding on to foreclosed properties are going to be letting them go.

CAR Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie-Appleton-Young said California's housing market has shown marked improvement.

"With sales bottoming out more than two years ago, and the median home price reaching its trough in February 2009, California remains ahead of the nation in market recovery," she said. "The median price for most regions hit bottom during the first half of the year, and the statewide median home price now is nearly $60,000 higher than its lowest point in the current cycle."