The number of homes sold in the San Fernando Valley in October was twice that of October 2007, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University Northridge. The primary reason for the huge increase is that last October was just a really bad month for home sales with just 738 homes selling versus 1,461 in October ’08, center Director Dan Blake said. The number of home sales has been steadily rising, Blake added. The October sales figures are a 15.5 percent increase from the previous month and the second highest increase in 2008. More good news the median price of a single-family home in the Valley went up for the first time in many months, rising $5,000 from the previous month, to $405,000. This is still 31 percent below the previous year and Blake cautioned that this is not necessarily a sign that housing prices have bottomed out. Notices of default climbed slightly, from 524 in September to 588 in October, but are still down nearly 40 percent from October 2007. Foreclosures decreased 33 percent between September and October 2008, but are still 32 percent higher than 2007.
