La Jolla Homes for sale & La Jolla Real Estate

Average listing price changes in San Diego locations:

Average listing price in Pacific BeachPacific Beach went up 1.55% to $752,520 

Average listing price in Mira MesaMira Mesa went down 0.18% to $318,437

Average listing price in La Jolla, CALa Jolla, CA went down 1.49% to $3,053,675

Average listing price in Lakeside, CALakeside, CA went up 2.84% to $308,871

Sales of existing U.S. homes rose in November for the third straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors, to a seasonally adjusted pace of 6.54 million units, an increase of 7.4 percent from October and a whopping 44.1 percent over the same time last year.

"This clearly is a rush of first-time buyers not wanting to miss out on the tax credit, but there are many more potential buyers who can enter the market in the months ahead," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. "We expect a temporary sales drop while buying activity ramps up for another surge in the spring when buyers take advantage of the expanded tax credit, which hopefully will take us into a self-sustaining market in the second half of 2010. In all, 4.4 million households are expected to claim the tax credit before it expires and balance should be restored to the housing sector with inventories continuing to decline."

The national median price for existing homes increased for the first time in 4 months, inching up to $172,600 in November, from an adjusted price of $172,200 the previous month. The current price reflects a 4.3 percent decrease from November 2008.

The NAR defines existing homes as all previously-owned single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums, and co-ops. The group "seasonally adjusts" the sales numbers to factor in inclement weather, school sessions, winter holidays, etc. to smooth out the trends. The NAR also describes its sales data based on an annual pace. The monthly figure represents the total number of housing units that would be sold in one year if the current rate were to continue unchanged.

Sales Pace by Region

Every region of the country posted a strong jump in sales in November, lead by a 10.6 percent monthly increase in the West to a seasonally adjusted 1.46 million homes. That also represents a yearly rise of 28.1 percent.

The Midwest saw the next biggest increase with sales climbing 8.4 percent to 1.55 million in November. On an annual basis sales are up 53.5 percent there.

Sales rose in the Northeast by 6.6 percent over October, to 1.13 million units. Since November 2008 sales are up 52.7 percent.

In the South, existing home sales rose 4.8 percent to 2.39 million houses, which is up 44.8 percent over the year before.

Home Prices

The median home price, the point at which half of all homes are sold for more and half are sold for less, rose in the West and South, but fell in the Northeast and Midwest.

The median price in the West was down 4.1 percent over the previous year, falling to $231,100, but it was up over October's median price of $220,200.

In the South, the median price rose to $151,400 in November from $149,900 the month before, yet the price is still down 1.4 percent from last year.

The Midwest experienced only a 0.4 percent yearly decrease in its median price, but it fell to $140,800 in November from $144,700 the month before.

The median price in the Northeast dropped to $223,400 from $235,200 in October, and was down 13.1 percent from one year earlier.

Inventory

The number of homes on the market fell to 3.518 million units , a 1.3 percent decrease from October and a 15.5 percent drop from the year before. At the current sales pace total housing inventory represents a 6.5-month supply, a decrease from a 7.0-month supply a month ago.