Home sales and prices rise in SLO County in January

The overall number of homes sold and the median home price in San Luis Obispo County both increased in January.

Total sales — including new homes, resale single-family homes and condos — were 274 in January, up 1.9 percent over the same month a year ago when 269 units were sold, according to Irvine-based data company CoreLogic.

The overall median home price rose 10.4 percent to $497,000 in January from $450,000 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 383,670 units in January, up 8.8 percent from January 2015.

The association reported the median price of a resale single-family detached home in California was $468,330 in January, 9.2 percent higher than the revised $428,980 recorded in January 2015.

In San Luis Obispo County, 76.3 percent of total sales in January were resale single-family homes, according to CoreLogic. Resale single-family home sales decreased 7.5 percent to 209 units sold in January; the median price of these resale homes rose by 17.8 percent to $530,000.

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

The number of condos sold in the county was 31 units, up 40.9 percent from 22 in January 2015. The median price for condos was $389,500, up 14.6 percent from a year ago.

Sales of new homes increased by 61.9 percent in January, with 34 units sold, compared with 21 the previous year. The median price of new homes sold increased by 31.2 percent year over year to $629,750.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Home sales and prices rise in SLO County in January."