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Business & Tech

More Homes Sold in Southland, but Median Price Down

In January, 4,997 homes sold in Los Angeles County.

The number of homes sold in Southern California increased 0.4 percent last month over January 2011, but the median price dropped 3.7 percent, DataQuick announced today.

The La Jolla-based real estate information firm reported that 14,523 homes were sold across the Southland in January, compared to 14,458 in the same month last year. The median price declined from $270,000 to $260,000 over the same time frame.

The share of January sales by absentee buyers -- either investors or purchasers of second homes -- was a record 26.8 percent in Southern California, DataQuick also reported.

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According to DataQuick:
   -- the number of homes sold in Los Angeles County climbed 1.8 percent, from 4,908 in January 2011 to 4,997 in January 2012;
   -- home sales in Orange County dropped 3 percent, from 1,929 last January to 1,872 last month.
   -- the median price of a residence that sold last month in Los Angeles County was $289,000, 3.7 percent lower than one year ago;
   -- the median price in Orange County was $392,000, down 5.5 percent from
January 2011.

In a separate report from the California Association of Realtors, which only took single-family detached home sales into account, the number of house purchases in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in January was 1.1 percent lower than the same month in 2011, and down 23.1 percent from December 2011.

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The CAR reported the median price of a single-family home in the LA area last month was $256,000, down from January 2011's figure of $268,940 and December 2011's $265,830.

Sales totals and median prices of houses declined statewide, according to the CAR report.

"The decline in the January median home (price) is largely a reflection of an increase in the share of distressed home sales," said CAR Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. "Seasonal factors in the non-distressed market also played a role in the softening of the median home price, as prices typically decline in the non-peak home buying season."

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