Orange County’s median home price inched up $5,000 in July from a month ago, but sales levels fell by nearly 26%, loosing the boost of federal home buyer tax credits.
The median price for an OC home was $450,000 in July, about a 1% gain from a month ago, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.
The median price here now is $30,000 or 7.1% higher than a year earlier, but still is about 30% below OC’s highest median price, set in the summer of 2007.
Sales in OC totaled 2,527 in July. That’s a 26% decline from a month ago and a 19% drop from a year ago.
June’s sales volumes were boosted by buyers facing a June 30 deadline to take advantage of an $8,000 federal tax credit, which has since been extended to this fall.
For all of Southern California, the median price for a home was $295,000 in July, down $5,000 from June’s prices but up 10% from a year ago.
Southland sales totaled 18,946 in July. That’s down nearly 21% from June’s totals, and also about a 21% decrease from a year ago.
It was the steepest year-over-year decline for Southland sales since March 2008, according to MDA DataQuick’s figures.
Foreclosure resales accounted for a 34% of the Southland’s resale market last month. That’s down from a high rate of 56.7%, set in early 2009, according to MDA DataQuick’s figures.
