San Fernando Valley home prices top another record in May

Both the pricing and the pace of sales was up year-over-year in the region

Aerial Shot of a Suburban Street in San Fernando Valley (Getty)
Aerial Shot of a Suburban Street in San Fernando Valley (Getty)

Like elsewhere in Southern California, San Fernando Valley homes are selling for more and more dough, with the median price marching ever closer to $1 million.

The Southland Regional Association of Realtors said the median sales price for a single-family home in the San Fernando Valley reached a record $945,000 in May, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

That’s 26 percent higher than May 2020 and $10,000 higher than the record set in April 2021. It also marked just the third time that the median topped $900,000.

Pricing is hitting new records monthly across SoCal. April was the ninth-straight month with a double-digit median sales price increase. The regional median sales price hit a record of $655,000 in April.
Condominiums sold for a median of $540,000 last month. That was down 1.9 percent from April, but up 18.4 percent year-over-year.

The pace of sales was up year-over-year in the valley as well, which wasn’t surprising, as May 2020 saw record lows for sales as the pandemic took hold.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The 497 single-family homes sold last month were more than twice the number sold in May 2020 and the 174 condo units sold was 163.6 percent higher than last year. Homes are selling quickly across L.A. County.

A shortage of listings is contributing to price growth. The 620 listings on the market in April was a record low. There were 685 active listings at the end of May.

Southland Regional CEO Tim Johnson said that high prices “threaten the sustainability of the entire residential market.”

“Let’s hope owners will be more comfortable, more willing to sell, once the economy fully reopens and the threat of the pandemic recedes,” he said. “If that happens, it may release some of the pressure on prices and give families more home buying options.”

[LADN] — Dennis Lynch