California home prices - latimes.com Home sales across the Golden State improved last month as prices slumped. March 15, 2012, 1:25 p.m. California home sales were up in February but median prices remained mired in the muck of a lackluster housing recovery. The real estate firm DataQuick estimated 29,630 houses and condominiums sold throughout the Golden State last month, an increase of 8.5% from the same month a year earlier. Sales have improved every month for the last seven months and February was the strongest for a February since 2007. The median home price for the state fell 2% from the same month a year prior to hit $239,000. Many experts predict that housing will bottom out this year but prices are likely to remain muted with high unemployment, tight credit and a steady supply of foreclosures. The median is the point at which half the homes in the state sold for more and half for less. "Drum-tight credit conditions continue to undermine housing, along with negative equity and the various uncertainties plaguing would-be buyers," John Walsh, president of San Diego-based DataQuick, said. Investors played a big role, with absentee buyers snapping up a record share of homes sold last month in both Southern California and the Bay Area. Excluding sales of new homes, absentee buyers purchase 29.7% of all homes in Southern California and 26% of all homes in the Bay Area. The Southland's median home price fell 3.7% from the same month a year earlier to hit $264,750 while sales jumped 8.4% over the same time period to hit 15,573 houses and condominiums. In the Bay Area, the median price fell 3.6% to hit $325,500 while sales surged 14.2% to hit 5,702.