In Brief: Calif. Home Prices Stable Despite Sales Dip

LOS ANGELES - Median home sales prices stabilized or increased throughout much of California during the second quarter compared with sales in early 1995 despite a decline in sales activity, the California Association of Realtors reported.

"It's promising to see that home prices are stabilizing or increasing in many major regions of California," said Ed Albers, president. It was the first quarterly increase in prices registered in the past year, he said.

Statewide, 384,850 existing single-family detached homes closed escrow during the second quarter on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, down 3.1% from an annualized rate of 397,280 sales in the first quarter of 1995.

Sales declined 23.1% from the second quarter 1994 pace, when 500,510 homes were sold on an annualized basis.

Statewide, the median sales price of an existing single-family home was $176,890 in the second quarter, up 1.2% from $174,840 in the first quarter. The median price declined 5.5% from the year-earlier period's $187,190.

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