Housing ups and downs

The relentless wave of foreclosures across Southern California helped push February home prices down to early 2002 levels, even as home sales spiked on healthy bargain-hunting, a market tracker said Tuesday.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Last month, 15,231 new and previously owned houses and condos were sold in the six-county region, said MDA DataQuick. That was up 42 percent from the previous February.

But the median price fell 39 percent to $250,000, with foreclosures accounting for 56 percent of February sales.

Sales have now increased from their year-ago level every month since last July.