Valley home sales on the rise

San Fernando Valley home sales soared by 78 percent in November from a year earlier as bargain-hunters snapped up foreclosed properties priced at levels last seen in mid-2003, a trade association said Thursday.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The median price of a previously owned home fell by 33percent last month to $375,000, down $182,500 from a year earlier, the Van Nuys- based Southland Regional Association of Realtors reported. That's an 8.5 percent drop from the $410,000 median reported in October.

The median price of a Valley home has plunged by 43 percent from the record high of $655,000 in June 2007.

But there are some signs that the downturn in the local real-estate market is leveling off, said Jim Link, the association's chief executive officer.