Stabilizing home prices and increased inventory fueled more San Fernando Valley homes to close escrow in July in more than a year, according to a report released Monday by the Southland Regional Association of Realtors. A total of 562 homes changed owners during July, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier and 7 percent from June. The median price was $520,000 – up 3 percent from the same month a year earlier and down 3 percent from June. The number of properties on the market climbed more than 27 percent from last July to 1,874, roughly a two-and-a-half month supply. The association said the new inventory kept price increases relatively modest. “The fact that single-family home sales have increased signals that we’ve transitioned into a normal market,” said Roger Hance, the association’s president, in a statement. “Last year the market was busier, but that was driven by the presence of distressed properties, which have largely vanished, and all-cash buyers, who are few in number and highly selective now that prices are higher and the bargains are gone.” In the Santa Clarita Valley, median home prices jumped more than 8 percent from last July to $465,500, but were off 3 percent from June. Inventory rose 49 percent from a year earlier to 726 active listings, about a 2.3 month supply. Nancy Starczyk, president of the association’s Santa Clarita Valley division, said rising prices have held the market back. “Each tick up in prices locked more prospective buyers out of the market,” she said in a statement. “Some owners still mistakenly expect prices to keep going up, up and up, yet that’s not realistic.”
