Sales of new and existing homes in California rose slightly in December.  DataQuick reports that there were a total of 39,949 homes sold statewide, a 4.5 percent increase from November's total of 33,429 units.  Last month's sales however were a substantial 12.1 percent lower than a year earlier when 39,760 transactions closed. 

Of the existing homes sold in December 2013 6.7 percent were homes that had been foreclosed within the previous year and 15.5 percent were short sales.  In November the respective numbers were 6.8 percent and 12.5 percent and in December 2012 15.8 percent of the existing homes sold were previous foreclosures and 26.7 were short sales.  DataQuick did not provide a breakdown on the split between new and existing units.

DataQuick said that December residential sales have averaged 43,547 over the 26 years the San Diego company has tracked them, varying from a low of 25,585 in 2007 to a high of 66,503 in 2003.  Last month's sales were the lowest for a December since 2007. California sales haven't been above average for any particular month in more than seven years.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $365,000, up 1.4 percent from $360,000 in November and up 22.1 percent from $299,000 in December 2012. Last month was the 22nd consecutive month in which the state's median sale price rose year-over-year, and the 13th straight month with a gain exceeding 20 percent. California home prices peaked at a median of $484,000 in the period of March through May 2007 and bottomed out at $221,000 in April 2009.