Compared with August 2012, buyers last month purchased 31.4% more homes in the so-called move-up range of $300,000 to $800,000. The number of homes that sold for less than$300,000 plummeted 24.9% from a year earlier.
Slow income growth in Southern California does not support higher prices, said Richard Green, director of USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. Over the next five years, he said, prices should climb at the pace of inflation.
Owners shouldn't expect the value of their home to soar in the next year, Green said. But neither should they expect it to fall.
"We are about where we should be right now."