The typical home price in San Diego County ended 2016 just under half a million dollars.

In December, the median home price was $495,000, real estate tracker CoreLogic reported. It was the same as the previous month.

In 12 months, the county’s home price increased 4.2 percent.

The December resale house median was $540,000, with 2,156 sales. A resale condo median was $365,000 with 961 sales and $616,750 for newly-built homes with 325 sales.

In San Diego County, there were 3,669 sales in December 2015 and 3,451 sales this December.

Cash buyers made up 18.6 percent of sales last month, far from the peak of 37 percent in February 2013.

Distressed sales, made up of foreclosures and short sales, were down, making up 4.9 percent of sales — down 1.1 percent from last year. The foreclosure rate was 0.23 percent in October, a big change from 2.99 percent in October 2009. The peak for short sales after the recession was 23.1 percent in January 2012.

Absentee buyers, usually investors who don’t intend to live in the home, made up 21.3 percent of sales, nearly unchanged from a year ago. In early 2013, 31.3 percent of sales were to absentee buyers.

Southern California median home prices were up 6.8 percent year-over-year across the board. The biggest increase was in San Bernardino County at 8.7 percent to a median price of $299,000.

It was followed by Riverside County, which rose 8 percent to $345,750; Ventura County with a 5.9 percent increase for a median of $519,000; Orange County with a 5.3 percent increase for a median of $665,000; San Diego County with a 4.2 percent increase for a median of $495,000; and Los Angeles County with a 4 percent increase for $520,000.

Source: latimes.com by Phillip Molnar