San Fernando Valley home sales jumped 14 percent in September from a year earlier while the median price slipped to $390,000 - a 2.5 dip that was the smallest in nearly two years, a research center said Thursday.A total of 1,440 new and previously owned houses and condominiums changed owners, up from 1,265 in September 2008, said the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge. Sales did fall from 1,478 in August, but a drop is normal at this time of year.
The median price of a single-family house slipped from $400,000, the smallest year-over-year decline since October 2007. It also increased $15,000 from August’s $375,000 median.
Prices have also increased on a month-to-month basis for four consecutive months, a sign they have stabilized, the center said.
“The stability of the housing prices is the best sign we have for the Valley,” center director William Roberts said of the local economy that’s been roiled with job losses.
Sales activity is also starting to pick up in the south foothills where the median price has been hovering around the $750,000 range. Sales there hit 211 properties last month and have been steadily increasing since May, when they totaled 170.
However foreclosures remain a concern, even though they fell 29 percent to 586 properties from 823 a year earlier. They also rose from 567 in August.
“Continuing high unemployment, evidence of a slow recovery, along with state and local government financial problems implies a continuing foreclosure problem,” Roberts wrote in his analysis of September’s market.
Notices of default did soar 207 percent to 1,609 from 823 a year ago. That’s because regulations took effect last September that made lenders wait longer before issuing default notices.
And he noted that September 2009 default notices increased only 5 percent from August.
Jack Kyser, founding economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., says that there is concern that the weak economy could bring a flood of foreclosures next year.
“It looks like a housing market recovery, but it’s a very delicate recovery,” Kyser said.