Valley Sees Slow Gains in Home Sales

From the Desert Sun on July 23,2009:

The Coachella Valley real estate market made headway in April and May, posting small but steady gains.
Home sales rose 2.8% in April and 3.5% in May according to Data Quick.
The median price held at the $180,000 mark as well by the end of May.
While no one can say with certainty that this establishes a trend, it does show that the lower priced homes in the marketplace are being bought up", said Greg Berkemer, executive director of the Calif. Desert Assn. of Realtors. " As that continues to happen, the next level will start to sell and push up the median price."
For new sales, two years ago, there were significantly more newly built home sales in the mix.
For April and May, a total of 108 new homes sold. That compares to 365 in the same period in 2007 and 274 in 2008.