Southern California’s Home Prices Are Still Rising by Double Digits

With signs indicating that a rebounding U.S. economy may lead a worldwide financial recovery, Southern California’s pandemic real estate market remains ahead of the curve as home sales in the region rose by double digits for the eighth straight month in March.

According to data released Wednesday by real estate firm DQNews, median home sale prices in SoCal’s six counties jumped by 14.5 percent since the same time last year, hitting a record $630,000. The number of houses, condos, and town homes sold in that period rose 32.2 percent, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The upward trend predates the pandemic, but it took off with renewed vigor as the rest of the economy faltered. In December, when the median price reached $600,000, housing experts credited the surge to people whose earnings remained largely untouched by the crisis as shuttered work places left them craving more space. These lucky customers continue to drive the surge, along with plummeting mortgage rates and millennials who are entering their early 30s.

Across the region, there wasn’t a single county that didn’t see a double-digit leap in the media price of homes in March. San Bernardino County saw the biggest increase—18.3 percent to $429,500—but Los Angeles County wasn’t far behind with a 17.2 percent increase to $750,000. While that sounds outrageous, Orange County remains the county in the six-state region with the highest media home price, $835,000, which represented a 10.6 percent jump last month.

While one expert told the Times plateauing incomes could put a dent in the current fervor, most analysts don’t see anything putting the brakes on SoCal’s upward trajectory unless the economy as a whole begins to tumble or mortgage rates spike.