Home Prices

The number of homes statewide sold for more than $5 million reached an all-time high last year, while those selling at a million dollars or more rose to the highest level since 2007 last year, a real estate information service has reported. Cash buyers, an upturn in home prices and the recovering economy played a role in the increase, as did a year-end rush among the wealthy to take advantage of lower capital gains taxes by closing before year end. Across California, 697 homes sold for more than $5 million compared to the previous high of 491 in 2011.

A leading measure of home prices in the biggest American cities posted strong year-over-year growth in November. The S&P/Case Shiller 20-city index rose 5.5% from the same month a year earlier, rising in 19 out of the 20 metro areas tracked by the gauge. According to the index, from October to November, prices declined 0.1% -- a normal seasonal slowdown. The data are the latest indication that home prices continued to rise through the end of last year as housing inventory dwindled and demand surged.

The sharp increase in home prices - particularly in regional markets such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, which had been so decimated by the bust - is raising concern among some economists. Indeed, home prices are now posting double-digit gains in some of the places where so-called negative equity is severe. According to data from S&P/Case-Shiller, prices in Las Vegas rose 10.0% over the year and Phoenix was up 22.8%. It is those kinds of big increases that could fuel speculation. “It does concern me a bit,” Zillow.com chief economist Stan Humphries said.

Helping home prices rise is a drop in home foreclosure activity. That trend continued throughout the Los Angeles area in November, new data show. The rate at which lenders have foreclosed on mortgages in the Los Angeles area fell to 1.67% of all home loans, data firm CoreLogic said. That compares to 2.67% the same month a year prior.  That rate was lower than the national average, which was 2.97% in November. Fewer people in the Los Angeles area also fell behind on their mortgages, according to the data.

The nation's home prices notched up slightly in November as the U.S. housing market continues to recover, according to a national index. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Wednesday its House Price Index has not fallen month-to-month since January 2011. The agency said prices rose 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis in November, and jumped 5.6% when compared to a year earlier. Home prices in the Pacific region rose 1.7% in November compared to the previous month, while prices jumped 11.1% compared to November 2011.

California's foreclosure crisis eased considerably during the final quarter of last year, with the number of homes entering foreclosure dropping to a six-year low. The steep decline, accompanied by a similar drop in home repossessions, clears the path for a quickened pace of recovery this year. Fewer foreclosures on the market should lead to higher home prices and a healthier real estate market. "Ultimately, fewer foreclosures means an even tighter market, which means a more rapid recovery," said Christopher Thornberg, a principal at Beacon Economics.

WASHINGTON — Could we be looking at an early spring this year — not in meteorological terms but real estate? Could the chilly December-to-February months, which traditionally see fewer buyers out shopping for houses compared with the warmer months that follow, be more active than usual? And if so, what does this mean to you as a potential home seller or buyer? There is growing evidence, anecdotal and statistical, that there are more shoppers on the prowl in many parts of the country than is customary for this time of year, more people requesting "preapproval" letters from mortgage companies, more people visiting websites offering homes for sale and more people telling pollsters that they expect home prices to continue rising and that the worst of the housing downturn is long past.

Southern California's housing market ended the year with sharp gains, rounding out the first solid year of sustained improvement after nearly five years of real estate malaise - and helping set up further improvement in 2013. The region's median home price registered a sizable 19.6% pop in December compared with the same month last year to hit $323,000, real estate firm DataQuick reported Tuesday. A record level of cash buyers flooded into the market and more move-up homes sold last month.

As many investors had feared, the "fiscal cliff" drama in Washington is keeping Wall Street on edge as the year ends. Word that no deal appeared imminent knocked the Dow Jones industrial average down 158.20 points, or 1.2%, to a one-month low of 12,938.11 on Friday. But once the cliff is resolved - one way or another - four big economic and market stories of 2012 are likely to remain dominant themes of the new year. The four: • The housing market's rebound. As recoveries go, the turnaround in housing this year doesn't look like much on the charts, certainly not compared with the bubble years of the mid-2000s.

If you're looking for the source of this year's home price recovery, look West. Western cities are recovering strongly after being hit hardest during the real estate bust. The trend was confirmed Tuesday with the release of the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of 20 large cities. The index was down 0.1% in October from September but up 4.3% compared with October 2011. San Francisco and Phoenix have both rebounded from their most recent lows. The two cities are up 22.5% and 22.1%, respectively.