LOS ANGELES — Home sales in a six-county region of Southern California plunged in January to the slowest pace for any month in more than 20 years, the latest sign would-be buyers remain reluctant to enter a housing market still mired in a steep slump and hobbled by mortgage lending constraints.
A total of 9,983 homes were sold in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties in January, a drop of nearly 50 percent from the same month last year, DataQuick Information Systems said Wednesday.
Home sales in the region were down nearly 25 percent from December’s 13,240, the real estate research firm said.
Since September, the region’s monthly home sales volume has hit new lows. DataQuick’s statistics go back to 1988.
Median home prices fell in all the counties, driving down the region’s median price to $415,000 — the lowest since January 2005, the firm said.
January’s median price for the region represents a 2.4 percent dip from December and a 17.8 percent drop from the overall peak price of $505,000 posted last spring and summer.
California had been a housing hotbed during the boom in recent years. But like many other areas of the country, it has been hammered by falling sales and prices as many would-be buyers wait for even better deals before entering the market.
The national downturn is being exacerbated by rising mortgage defaults and tightening standards by lenders under pressure to avoid further losses.
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