Home sales in county up 9.8 percent from last December

Home sales in San Diego County rose by 9.8 percent in December, compared to the same month a year ago, while prices increased by 10 percent, a real estate information service reported Tuesday.

A total of 3,652 homes sold in December, up from 3,325 for December 2008, while the median price of a home in San Diego County last month was $330,000, up from $300,000 in the same month a year ago, according to La Jolla-based MDA DataQuick.

According to DataQuick, 22,328 homes were sold in the six-county Southern California region — Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties — in December, up 16.4 percent from 19,181 in November and up 12.1 percent from 19,926 in December 2008.

“Several forces have pulled the region’s media sale price out of its nose dive and given it lift,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president. “We’ve seen the re-selling of foreclosed homes fall off its peak in newer, lower-cost inland areas, while at the same time sales have started to pick up in some of the more established expensive areas.”

The median price of a Southern California home was $289,000 in December, up 1.4 percent from $285,000 in November and up 4 percent from $278,000 in December 2008.