LA’s median home price rose 8.4% in November, but spike is artificial: experts

(credit: Phrasemix.com)
(credit: Phrasemix.com)

Updated, Jan 6. 2017, 12:55 p.m.: The medan price of a home in Los Angeles rose in November as compared to a year earlier. 

In Los Angeles County, the median price rose 8.4 percent year-over-year to $530,000 in November, according to a report released Tuesday by real estate data firm CoreLogic. Sales volume increased across Southern California by 24.1 percent. 

But the volume increase does not necessarily mean all is rosy SoCal, CoreLogic analyst Andrew LePage warned the Los Angeles Times. The sales spike reflected how new lending regulations imposed last year delayed many deals that otherwise would have closed in November 2015, he said. 

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“The main reason Southern California home sales in November shot up so sharply…is the artificially weak sales recorded in November 2015,” LePage said in a statement.

Meanwhile, prices have been relatively flat in the Southland this year. Despite rising year-over-year, the median Southern California home price hasn’t changed much on a month-over-month basis since June, when it reached a nine-year high of $465,000.

Many economists see this as a sign of a slowdown, while others expect prices to keep rising in 2017, but more slowly than in previous years. [LAT]Gabrielle Paluch