BY LEON WORDEN / SCVNEWS.COM
The full-year 2012 numbers are in, and for Santa Clarita Valley homeowners who were looking to make a little money on their major investment last year, they weren’t too swift.

Single-family home prices rose by less than 1 percent over 2011 prices. The typical SCV house sold for $367,467 in 2012 versus $364,867 in 2011.

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But the fact that the price moved up at all is noteworthy.

“It was the first increase in the annual median price after five consecutive years of declines, including a 22.0 percent plunge in 2008,” according to a statement from the Southland Regional Association of Realtors.

Condominium sellers didn’t fare nearly so well. The median condominium price fell by 8.8 percent in 2012 to $192,158 from $210,675 in 2011. It was the lowest annual mark for condo prices in 10 years.

The best full year in the SCV, price-wise, was 2005, when the typical single-family home sold for $603,492 and the typical condo changed hands for $380,583.

2012 finished with a surge in single-family home prices as December’s median price came in at $403,500, up sharply from November’s median of $360,000 and December 2011’s $340,000.

The median condo traded for $200,000 in December, up from November’s $197,000 but down from $203,800 in December 2011.

Few homes were listed for sale in December – 237 single-families and 83 condos compared to 667 and 294, respectively, in December 2011 – a record-low 0.9 month’s supply in a market where a 5- to 6-month supply is considered healthy.

But it’s not as though nothing was selling in December. More homes closed escrow in the final month of 2012 (247 single-families, 120 condos) than in December 2011 (217 and 105).

Overall, 2012 was better for Realtors as 2,308 single-family homes and 1,026 condos closed escrow – 8.1 percent and 15.5 percent more, respectively, than in 2011.

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