California home sales rose 2.1% in November on a sequential basis, and were up 2.3% compared to the same month a year ago, according to the state's premier Realtor group.
The median sales price gained 1% from October, but fell 5% from November 2010.
LeFrancis Arnold, president of the California Association of Realtors, said sales should meet or exceed 2010's pace and are running "just shy of normal levels, enabling both distressed and non-distressed properties to move."
November's sales totaled 503,570 units on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared with October's revised figure of 493,190.
The statewide median price was $280,960, up from $278,060 in October. The median price in November 2010 was $296,480.
CAR chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young noted that “price declines in such high cost areas as Contra Costa, Marin, Ventura, Orange County, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz may be a sign that the recent lowering of the conforming loan limits may have had an impact on purchases of homes in the moderately high-priced range."
