SLO County home sales and prices rise in December

Both the overall number of homes sold and the median home price in San Luis Obispo County increased in December.

Total sales — including new homes, resale single-family homes and condos — were 389 in December, up 20.4 percent over the same month a year ago when 323 units were sold, according to Irvine-based data company CoreLogic.

The overall median home price rose 8.8 percent to $500,000 in December from $459,500 a year earlier.

The median is the midpoint at which half of the houses sold for more and half for less. Figures are compared year over year because of the seasonal nature of home sales.

CoreLogic does not provide data on the overall California housing market, but the California Association of Realtors reported that closed-escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in the state totaled a seasonally adjusted 405,530 units in December, up 10.7 percent from December 2014.

The association reported the median price of a resale single-family detached home was $489,310 in December, 8 percent higher than the revised $453,270 recorded in December 2014.

In San Luis Obispo County, 73.3 percent of total sales were resale single-family homes, according to CoreLogic. Resale single-family home sales increased 12.6 percent to 285 units sold in December; the median price rose by 12.1 percent to $504,500.

CoreLogic monitors sales of condos and new homes, though percentages on those are subject to large fluctuations because the number of sales are relatively small.

The number of condos sold in the county was 43 units, up 16.2 percent from 37 in December 2014. The median price for condos was $327,000, down 13.9 percent from a year ago.

Sales of new homes increased by 84.8 percent in December, with 61 units sold, compared with 33 the previous year. The median price of new homes sold decreased by 20.2 percent year over year to $557,000.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 4:12 PM with the headline "SLO County home sales and prices rise in December."