A real estate tracking firm says sales of existing single-family homes in San Diego County actually increased about 30-percent in December from the year earlier. But, John Karevoll at DataQuick Information Services says that's just because the 2007 sales were dismally low.
Karevoll says even the December improvement signals a market in trouble. And he says part of the problem is banks are not lending.
Karevoll: An awful lot of escrows can't be closed. They're stacking up there. In large part because of the lack of lending activity in the market for mortgages about $417,000.
The DataQuick report shows the median price of an existing home sold in San Diego County last month was down more than 30-percent from the year earlier to $300,000.
And half of all the homes that did sell were sold out of foreclosure.
