NorCal home prices up

LOS ANGELES — The median home price in Northern California increased nearly 5 percent last month from March, suggesting some parts of the region's housing market could be stabilizing, a tracking firm said Thursday.

The increase marks a reversal of the steady month-to-month price declines in the region that have held since fall 2007, said MDA DataQuick, which also released separate figures marking a third consecutive month when the statewide median price declined by less than 1 percent.

"For the past few months, we've seen faint but growing signs that would normally suggest many markets are nearing price stabilization," said DataQuick President John Walsh, who cautioned that job losses and other factors could threaten a sustained recovery.

The statewide median price sank just 0.9 percent to $221,000 in April, from $223,000 in March. The average month-to-month decline for the 12 months ending in January, by comparison, was more than 4 percent.

"It does look like the housing market is bottoming out," said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Forecast at the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate. "We're not going to take off from here, but we will basically stabilize."

April's statewide median home price reflected a 38 percent plunge from the year-ago period, when the figure stood at $354,000.

In the Northern California region, last month's median price was $304,000, up from $290,000 in March, but down 41 percent from the year-ago period when the figure stood at $518,000.

Avram Goldman, president and chief executive of San Francisco-based Pacific Union Real Estate, said he doesn't expect any further declines in the less expensive inland Northern California counties that are seeing the most activity.

"The watermark is set for the lower end of the market," he said. "The air is out of the balloon."

Home sales in Northern California climbed 13 percent last month to 7,139 from 6,310 a year ago.