NOVEMBER WAS A HOT SALES MONTH--WHAT WERE THE EXACT NUMBERS?

November sizzled for a holiday month, and many reasons were stated in the previous column.  Namely, a strong  job market, wage increases, fear of interest rates rising, all factored into a big month.  CoreLogic reported new and existing home sales of 2,978 for Orange County, up 20.9% from November 2015; Los Angeles had 6,450, up 23.6% from the previous year.  San Bernardino was up 28.3% in total volume and Riverside up 23.5%, all compared to November 2015.  Most striking is the statistic on the median price of a new home, which came in at $861,500, up 4.5% from a year ago as builders sold 426 new homes in November.  That makes the median price of an existing home look like a bargain at $660,000, even  as that number rose 5.9% from 2015.  Prices were up, again according to CoreLogic in 56 of 83 Orange County zip codes.  Sales volume rose in 50 of the 83.  All price ranges showed increases in volume, with the 10 priciest zip codes (median values over $1,000,000), up 9%.  Basic existing single-family homes sold well, up 20.2%.  Take away condos and the median price for single-family resale was $701,750.