Home Prices Fell In Los Angeles County

June home prices fell more than 29% from 2007 and sales remained low. Foreclosures have been flooding the market and pushing down the median home price from $502,000 in June 2007 to $355,000. The median price fell 4 percent from May.

Prices fell 23% percent drop in Los Angeles County, from $545,000 to $415,000. That means a house purchased just a year ago lost $130,000 in value. Foreclosure sales in June accounted for 41 percent of transactions. That compares with 7 percent a year earlier and 39 percent in May.

In the San Fernando Valley and Pasadena, prices have fallen by just 10 percent to
15 percent. Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist at the California Association of Realtors, says you almost have to do a street-by-street canvass to get an accurate take on prices.

Prospective buyers are finding very difficult to get mortgage financing since lenders have tightened their guidelines, but that doesn't deter first time buyers and investors as well.

Sales hit a 10-month high of 17,424 transactions in June, the sixth consecutive month they've increased. Leslie Appleton-Young said statewide sales appear to have bottomed out last October and have increased every month since then.

In Los Angeles County, sales fell an annual 25 percent, to 5,678 transactions. However, they've increased every month since January and they will probably keep the same pace for the rest of the summer.

The average monthly mortgage payment dipped to $1,671 last month, compared with $1,713 in May and $2,430 from June 2007.