Home Sales Spike in California on Easier Loans

Los Angeles, CA, May 21, 2008--Bargain hunters were active and loans were easier to obtain as home sales in California jumped nearly 27 percent from March to April.

However, prices continue to drop across the state, showing that home owners are still finding it hard to unload their properties without price concessions, according to numbers released Tuesday by DataQuick Information Systems.

The median price paid for a California home last month was down 1.1 percent to $354,000 and down nearly 27 percent from a year ago.

A total of 31,150 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide in April, down 10.9 percent from a year ago and the worst showing since 1995, according to DataQuick.

Nearly 38 percent of the total number of homes sold were foreclosed properties.

"The big issue here is that mortgages are becoming obtainable, which will reduce the pile of stacked-up pending escrows," Marshall Prentice, DataQuick's president, said in a press release. "It's unclear if the financing is because of policy changes or because mortgage investors are getting more interested in securities. Probably both."