Feb. 16--Southern California home sales in January posted a 7.3% gain compared with the same month a year ago, marking the strongest January for sales since 2013, according to real estate data released Tuesday.
Last month, 14,619 new and existing homes and condominiums were sold in Southern California, according to data firm CoreLogic. While this was an increase over the 13,627 home sales in January 2015, the total marked a 30.8% decline from a month earlier.
Andrew LePage, research analyst with CoreLogic, said the decrease in sales between December and January is normal. On average, sales have decreased about 27.7% between these two months, according to CoreLogic.
"Some people prefer not to buy and sell during the holidays or in the middle of winter, so January and February tend to be relatively weak months for closings and, as such, they're not especially predictive of what's to come for the rest of the year," he said in a statement.
The median price paid for homes in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties in January was $432,250, a 6.7% increase from the same month a year earlier, but a decrease of 1.8% compared with December 2015.
New data on homebuilder confidence, which dipped three points to 58 from January's total of 61, was also released Tuesday.
Builders attributed the lower number to higher costs and availability issues for both lots and labor.
Conducted monthly for the last 30 years, the National Assn. of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index measures builders' perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months.
For more business news, follow @smasunaga.
