Housing slump continues; help for homeowners
Home sales across Southern California remained weak in July, falling an annual 27.4 percent to their lowest level for that month since 1995, but the median price did move up to match March's record, an industry tracker said Tuesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.
Despite the sales slide, the median price gained 3.7 percent from a year ago to $505,000 across the six-county region, driven by more transactions in the market's higher-priced areas, said La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems.
Los Angeles County was the only market to see an annual price increase, rising 5.3 percent to $547,500, the second-highest median on record.
City help on the way?
With a growing number of homeowners facing potential foreclosure in a slowing housing market, Los Angeles officials agreed Tuesday to study creating a special emergency loan fund. Daily News
As part of the move, the City Council's Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee also said it wants to find $100,000 to help pay for a second effort by Operation Hope to educate and help at-risk homeowners.
But reluctant to follow a proposal by Councilman Richard Alarc n to tap into the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the panel said it instead wants to review whether to develop guidelines and look for other sources of funding.