SLO County News BlogGolf, Wine, Real Estate, Business & Travel NewsSLO Homes just shy of $500,000Monday, March 28, 2005Home buyers rushing to beat further interest rate hikes fueled demand for homes in February, pushing up the San Luis Obispo County median to within a whisker of the half-million-dollar mark.The $496,430 median home price set a new record for the second consecutive month, increasing $1,430 above January's figure, according to information released Wednesday by the California Association of Realtors. The median is the statistical point where half of the homes sell for more and half for less. Local increases largely are driven by rising prices at the lower end of the market, said Richard Watkins, chairman of the Central Coast Multiple Listing Service. "There is very little for sale under $400,000 anywhere in the county," he said. "I think there is general agreement that the train is about to leave the station for marginal qualifiers who are out there aggressively looking to get into the real estate arena." February, which is typically one of the slowest selling months of the year, posted a nearly 7 percent increase in sales over the same month a year ago. Statewide, sales increased 3.2 percent from a year earlier, but the median home price slipped to $471,620, a 2.9 percent decline from January's record $485,700. Still, February's median represented a 20.4 percent increase over the same period a year ago. The state's most expensive markets included Los Altos and Burlingame at $1.4 million, Newport Beach at $1.29 million and Santa Barbara at $996,500. Conversely, the biggest percentage gains year over year were in the state's more affordable inland areas. In the San Bernardino County city of Adelanto, prices rose 81.8 percent; Tehachapi was up 70.1 percent; and West Sacramento, Hesperia, Twentynine Palms, Norco and San Bernardino all saw increases above 50 percent. Fifty-percent gains also occurred in the Bay Area towns of Union City and Menlo Park. Home prices nudging $500,000 The Tribune, Leslie E. Stevens To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Read More
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