Home sales in Southern California had their usual seasonal jump last month but the sales price bottomed out as investors concentrated on cheap homes.
The real estate firm DataQuick says 19,247 homes were sold in the six-county area in December, up 14 percent from November. That's a normal jump as investors try to close deals before year's end for tax reasons.
However, even that bump couldn't push the regional housing market out of a slump. Sales were down nearly 1½ percent from the previous December and they were 22 percent lower than the December average.
DataQuick says a record share of sales went to absentee buyers but many were lower-cost homes. That dropped the median price to $270,000, matching two other months for the lowest median price of 2011.
