Southern California home prices hit a record high last month – the fifth such record in seven months.

But sales slumped due to “affordability and inventory constraints,” prompting some to say a 6-year housing market expansion is starting to run out of gas.

“People can’t afford homes anymore,” said Joan Augustiny, an agent with Podley Properties in Pasadena. “A lot of price reductions are occurring. Lots. And there are a lot of (homes coming) back on the market.”

Still, a limited number of homes for sale continues to drive up prices, pushing Southern California’s median – or the price at the midpoint of all sales – to all-time high of $536,250 in June, real estate data firm CoreLogic reported Tuesday, June 24. That’s up by more than $36,000, or 7.3 percent, from June of last year.

Record median prices also were reached in Los Angeles and San Diego counties, CoreLogic figures show. CoreLogic’s county-by-county report showed:

  • Los Angeles County’s median hit an all-time high of $615,000, up 8 percent year over year.
  • San Diego County’s median hit an all-time high of $575,000, up 5.5 percent.
  • Orange County’s median was $739,000, up 6 percent and just $1,000 below the record high set in May.
  • Ventura County’s median was $615,000, up 8.8 percent to a high not seen since June 2006.
  • Riverside County’s median was $380,000, up 7 percent to a high not seen since August 2007.
  • San Bernardino County’s median was $334,000, up 4.4 percent.

But sales of houses, townhomes and condos fell 11.8 percent from June 2017 levels, dropping to 22,706 transactions.

Midway through the year, the region has seen 117,075 deals close in 2018 so far. That’s down 4.6 percent compared with the first half of 2017, and it’s the smallest mid-year tally since 2015.

Last month’s also sales were the slowest for a June in four years, with sales drops for all housing types and for all price categories below $1 million, CoreLogic reported.

“We have heard from around the city that some (pockets) are slowing down,” said Kurt Wisner, a Compass agent in Los Angeles focusing on places like Echo Park, Highland Park, Los Feliz and Silver Lake – an area that’s still relatively immune to the slowdown.

Still, he said, “we are definitely seeing fewer offers for our listings. Whereas three or four months ago, a hot listing may have generated 10 or so offers, now we’re happy to get two.”

While there was one business day fewer in June than the year before, higher house payments and a lack of homes to choose from “are likely the main culprits in last month’s sales slowdown,” said CoreLogic Analyst Andrew LePage.

Rising mortgage rates – up a half-percentage point in the past year to 4.52 percent – pushed the monthly house payment up about 16 percent for a median-priced home, CoreLogic reported.

“Price growth is only part of the problem,” LePage said.

Similar sales drops occurred throughout the nation and the state, two other housing reports showed this week.

Existing U.S. home sales slid 2.2 percent from June 2017 levels, marking the fourth straight month of year-over-year sales drops, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. In addition, the California Association of Realtors reported a 7.3 percent year-over-year decrease in Golden State sales.

But Southern California had the state’s biggest drop in house sales, CAR reported, with sales down even in San Bernardino County, which had seen gains in five of the six previous months.

While bidding wars and sales above the asking price still are commonplace, that’s encouraged many sellers with mediocre homes in so-so locations to become overly ambitious in pricing their own properties, several agents said.

“Sellers know it is a seller’s market and home prices are going up,” added Jeff Maas, owner of Riverside-based National Realty Group. “This causes many sellers to price their homes above market. In turn, it takes longer to sell homes and the price may stagnate.”

One agent even uttered the B-word: “We’re in a bubble,” said Augustiny of Podley, a boutique San Gabriel Valley brokerage. “I think it’s rather obvious.”

For example, Augustiny said she’s seeing more creative financing to help buyers stretch their finances to buy a house.

“Everything is overpriced,” she said. “Millennials are spending their last dollar to buy a house, so they’ll be house poor.”

Maas doesn’t see a bubble, but says fear of a bubble is “the biggest factor I see affecting the market.”

“Fear causes people to freeze,” Maas said. “However, there are still enough buyers to push prices up in a market with low inventory.”