Southern California’s real estate market hit another historic peak in June, with home prices soaring to yet another all-time high, though analysts see the extreme bidding wars of the last year beginning to ease, the Los Angeles Times reported. June's median home price of $680,000 tops the previous record of $667,000, set in May, according to data released Tuesday by data firm DQNews. It represents a 22.5 percent increase from June 2020, when the market in the six-county region slowed significantly as sellers pulled homes off the market because of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Since then, a dramatic rebound has seen 11 straight months of double-digit median home price rises. Experts credit multiple factors: fast-expanding buyer markets such as millennials, more demand for space as more people work from home, and ultra-low mortgage rates, which are attracting wealthy investors who compete with the middle class for limited housing stock. As Los Angeles pulls out of the pandemic-induced recession, the pent-up demand could make for a hot Southern California market through the rest of the year and beyond. Sales are also on the rise, signaling a possible easing of the supply shortage that has caused bidding wars and seen properties sell for hundreds of thousands over the asking price. In June, 27,012 homes traded hands, a sizable jump from the 24,064 that sold in May and the 17,743 that sold in June 2020.
