Prices and Number of County Home Sales Rise in April, 67 Sold in Santee

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Home prices in San Diego County jumped by 1.7 percent in April , while the number of sales rose by 4.5 percent, the California Association of Realtors announced Tuesday, noting that statewide home sales reached their highest level in more than two years.

In San Diego County, the median price of a single-family home was $369,910 in April, up from $363,710 in March. Last month's median price was down 2.2 percent from April 2011, when the median was $378,230, according to CAR.

Home sales rose in the county by 4.5 percent between March and April, and the April sales number was 9.7 percent higher than April 2011.

67 homes were sold in Santee in April, compared to 62 in March, according to Trulia.com.

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Home sales in the County jumped by 8.6 percent in April, compared to the same month a year ago.

A total of 3,559 homes changed hands locally last month, compared to 3,277 in April 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The median price of a home in San Diego County in April was $329,500, up from $321,750 in April 2011.

"The housing market continued its painfully slow crawl back toward normalcy last month," said John Walsh, DataQuick president. "You can see it in the fading role of foreclosures, the uptick in median prices here and there, and the higher levels of sales in coastal counties."

Statewide, the median price of a California home rose above $300,000 for the first time since December 2010, reaching $308,050, according to CAR. That was up 5.7 percent from $291,330 in March and 4.7 percent higher than the April 2011 price of $294,140. Home sales jumped by 10 percent between March and April, and 11 percent between April 2011 and last month.

"A brighter economic picture, coupled with record-high housing affordability, pushed the spring home-buying season off to a strong start," said CAR President LeFrancis Arnold. "With a continuing improving economy and interest rates declining to new record lows in recent weeks, we should see a steady improvement in the housing market through the end of the year."

-City News Service

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