Jump in L.A. home sales; prices remain depressed

The Socal housing market had its best February in five years, with L.A. County home sales up 11.1 percent from a year earlier and 5.2 percent from January, according to Dataquick. Some of this had to do with investors snapping up low-end properties - say in the $300,000 range - and often paying cash. The robust sales increase also had to do with leap year and an extra selling day in February. Prices, meanwhile, remained near the cellar - the median price of an L.A. home was $299,000, down 5.1 percent from a year earlier though up 3.4 percent from January. From Dataquick press release:

"February sales got a big boost from investors and others paying cash for relatively affordable homes, as well as from an extra day's worth of sales thanks to the leap year. Without the latter, sales might have been up a bit, but not to a five-year high. It's just one more reason for us to remind everyone that January and February usually aren't good months to use for forecasting purposes. The big picture remains one where the bottom of the housing market continues to see much of the action, while move-up activity remains sluggish. Financing is still difficult for many and lots of potential move-up buyers and sellers are stuck because they owe more than their homes are worth," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Here's a key takeaway: Socal sales below $300,000 rose 9.5 percent in February from a year earlier, while sales in the $300,000-$800,000 bracket dipped 0.8 percent and sales above $800,000 fell 12.6 percent. So if the housing market is indeed turning around, it's turning around at only a certain level - and among only a certain kind of buyer.

Absentee buyers - mostly investors and some second-home purchasers - bought a record 29.7 percent of the Southland homes sold in February, up from a revised 28.0 percent in January and 26.4 percent a year earlier. Last month's absentee buyers paid a median $192,750, down from $195,000 in February and $202,000 a year earlier. The Inland Empire saw absentee purchases rise to a record 37.2 percent of all sales. Since 2000, the Southland's absentee buyers have purchased a monthly average of 17.0 percent of all homes sold.

FEBRUARY HOME SALES (% change from February 2011)
Los Angeles 5,261 +11.1%
Orange 1,904 +0.1%
Riverside 3,011 +5.9%
San Bernardino 2,082 +5.5%
Ventura 606 +3.8%

FEBRUARY MEDIAN PRICE (% change from February 2011)
Los Angeles $299,000 -5.1%
Orange $388,500 -5.2%
Riverside $193,000 -1.0%
San Bernardino $148,000 -1.3%
Ventura $325,000 -5.8%

Source: DataQuick, DQNews.com