South Bay Home Sales Rise

The local housing market enjoyed an increase in single-family home sales for October, even as prices fell.

South Bay cities - excluding the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Inglewood - saw 183 sales of single-family homes, up 8 percent from the same month a year ago.

In a statement released Wednesday, the South Bay Association of Realtors reported that the median price of those sold homes was $400,000, down 26 percent from a year earlier.

The median price is the middle figure where half of homes sold for more and half for less.

The improved sales with lower values represent real estate's uncertain future as monthly data give mixed signals about the industry's direction.

"Increased single-family sales suggest that buyers and sellers are coming together more effectively and new families can get into homes for which they are qualified to buy," association President Caren Greenwood said in a statement. "If this trend continues in the coming months and going into 2012, and appropriate financing is available to qualified buyers, then we hope that it signals the economic recovery gaining strength."

Sales of local condominiums and town homes were less promising, with 6 percent fewer transactions in October compare with a year earlier.

The median price in this segment was flat at $409,000.

Warren Snyder, co-owner of a mortgage brokerage and real estate company, said he has been an uptick in business in part because of low interest rates.

"We're doing a lot of refinances, and we're also doing a lot of sales right now through short sales," said Snyder, of Carriage Realty & American Broker Loans in Rolling Hills Estates.

While the housing market continues to look shaky, Snyder said that lower home values mean he has been able to help his clients lower their assessed property taxes.

Statewide, home sales also rose last month, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Resales of single-family homes across the Golden State reached 493,240 in October, up 8.5 percent from a year earlier, and a 0.9 percent rise from September of this year.

The statewide median price was $278,060, down 8.9 percent from a year earlier and 3.3 percent decline from a month earlier.

Note: Article written by Muhammed El-Hasan of the Daily Breeze.