Falling mortgage rates are helping to keep the housing market from deteriorating at a faster pace, analysts say. Long-term rates are at an 11-month low.
One community revving at high speed is Lincoln Heights, where the median price rose 18.3% to $491,000 in November, DataQuick said.
Located just north of downtown L.A., Lincoln Heights has seen a surge in home buying after Puerta del Sol, a new condominium complex within walking distance of the Gold Line, opened for business a year ago.
A big reason why: affordable pricing. Catering to middle-income government workers, teachers and public safety personnel, units at the project range from the high $200,000s to the high $400,000s. Its sales are outpacing those at most new-home projects in the county, according to research firm Ryness Co.
"We wondered how we would be able to afford a home in L.A.," said Carlos Guerrero, who, with fiancee Sarita Garcia, moved into the complex last month. Both are school psychologists for the Los Angeles Unified School District. "We see it as an emerging area with a lot to offer and it's still relatively affordable."
The project's developer, Agoura Hills-based AMCAL, is now turning its sights on another still-appreciating neighborhood at 94th and Broadway in South L.A.
There, the company, which gets special government tax breaks for building below-market-rate housing, plans to begin construction on a community of 50 detached homes next spring.
"It's not as profitable and not as glamorous," AMCAL President Percival Vaz said. "We pick neighborhoods that are pioneering."
Still, more than 51% of L.A. County residents are renters. For them, the cost of housing continues to rise.
A separate report Tuesday found that to be able to afford a standard two-bedroom apartment without paying more than 30% of income in rent, a household needs to earn $4,230 monthly -- more than $50,000 a year.
That would translate into a wage of $24.40 an hour, according to the Southern California Assn. of Non-Profit Housing. In 2000, the group pegged its so-called "housing wage" at $17.29.
"Every year it is becoming more difficult for low-income working families to find decent homes they can afford," said Paul Zimmerman, the association's executive director.
In L.A. County, minimum wage workers earn $6.75 an hour. By the group's calculations, such a worker would have to work 135 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, to afford an apartment with an average rent of $1,269.
