LA Real Estate Advice: Home Prices Slowly Creeping Up

Westside LA Real Estate Advice: The weak economy and continued high unemployment has kept housing markets cool. As a result, the median price of a single-family home crept up just 1.5% to $176,900 in the second quarter, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.

Those year-over-year gains were very much in line with expectations, according to Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

“All year we’ve been seeing relatively flat national home prices, which appear to be supported by market fundamentals,” he said. “We don’t expect any consequential movement in home prices for the foreseeable future,” said Yun.

The biggest year-over-year gains were in an odd mix of cities. Akron, Ohio, for example, an old city where foreclosures are rampant and home prices low, had the biggest gain. Prices there jumped 36% to $119,700.

San Jose, Calif., prices soared 26% to $630,000; San Francisco was nearly as strong, up 25% to $591,200; Riverside, Calif., a particularly hard-hit foreclosure market, prices were up 17.8% to $190,200; and prices in Los Angeles, Calif. were up 9.3% to $339,900.

The worst performer was Cumberland, Md., where prices tumbled 15.4% to $104,500. Other big losers were Tucson, Ariz., down 13.7% to $150,200; and Ocala, Fla., off 13% to $95,900.

San Jose boasted the highest median price; it took over the lead that Honolulu held during the first three months of the year. Prices in the Hawaiian city were nearly flat quarter-over-quarter and up 9.1% year–over-year to a median of $621,600.

Condo report card

The condo market may have finally stabilized during the quarter, although it continued to lag single-family homes. Condo prices were up 3% compared with the first three months of the year but down 0.5% from the same period a year earlier.

One of the worst condo markets, Jacksonville, Fla., continued to find new bottoms. Prices there have fallen a whopping 42% in the past 12 months to $63,600. That includes a stiff 20.2% drop in the second quarter alone. Reno, Nev., prices fell almost as far, 33.9% to $68,200.

The biggest gains were made in markets not usually closely associated with a big supply of condos, such as Trenton, N.J., where condo prices are up 11.5% compared with 12 months ago to $221,600. Syracuse, N.Y., condos jumped 11.2% of the same period to $130,600. Columbus, Ohio, prices also made double-digit improvement, 10.7% to $130,700. Los Angeles, Calif. prices are up 7.8% from a year ago same time to $230,600.

Source: CNNMoney.com