Southern California home sales rose last month in all but the lowest price categories as buyers took advantage of tax credits and low mortgage rates. The median price paid topped $300,000 for the first time in 20 months, largely because the ultra bargains have been drying up in the low-cost inland areas while sales have increased in the pricier coastal neighborhoods, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 22,270 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 9.7 percent from 20,299 in April, and up 7.2 percent from 20,775 in May 2009, according to MDA DataQuick.

May sales were the highest for that month since May 2006, but they still fell 15.0 percent short of the average number sold in May since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. The 9.7 percent increase in sales between April and May compares with an average change of 6 percent since 1988.

The combination of tax incentives and low mortgage rates helped stoke sales in mid- to high-end areas, where distress has increased over the last year and sellers have become more motivated and realistic.

The median paid for a Southland home rose to $305,000 last month, up 7.0 percent from $285,000 in April, and up 22.5 percent from $249,000 in May 2009. The May 2009 median was just $2,000 higher than the median’s post-housing-boom low of $247,000 in April 2009.

Last month was the sixth in a row in which the median rose on a year-over-year basis. However, the May median was still 39.6 percent below the $505,000 peak, reached multiple times in spring and summer 2007.

Last month was the sixth in a row in which the median rose on a year-over-year basis. However, the May median was still 39.6 percent below the $505,000 peak, reached multiple times in spring and summer 2007.

“Last month’s jump in the regional median sale price is the flipside of what we saw a year ago, when low-cost inland foreclosures dominated and sales in the costlier coastal towns struggled for a pulse. Today the bargains on foreclosures are fewer and farther between, and the high-end is approaching a normal sales rate.

“The important thing to remember, though, is that what we saw i

stimulus,” he continued. “In the second half of the year the market will have to stand on its own again, barring new forms of government involvement. Prices will be tested if there’s any sudden move by lenders to release a flood of distressed properties.”

Foreclosure resales accounted for 33.9 percent of the resale market last month, down from 36.4 percent in April and 49.8 percent a year earlier. The all-time high for foreclosure resales

On the lending front, May saw modest gains in the use of “jumbo” and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). Historically both helped drive high-end sales, but they became far more difficult to obtain after the August 2007 credit crunch.

In May 6.6 percent of all home purchase loans were ARMs, up from 5.8 percent in April and up from 1.9 percent in May last year. However, the monthly ARM average since 2000 is 39.2 percent.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 17.2 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from 16.1 percent in April and 12.9 percent in May 2009. But before the credit crisis, such jumbos accounted for 40 percent of the market.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 19.4 percent of the homes sold in May, paying a median $220,000. That compares with 22.9 percent absentee buyers in April who paid a median $205,000, and 19.6 percent absentee buyers paying a median $170,000 in May 2009.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning there was no indication that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded – accounted for 24.5 percent of May sales, paying a median $220,000. In April cash sales were 28.6 percent and a year ago it was 26.1 percent. The 23-year monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is 14.1 percent.

The “flipping” of homes has trended higher over the past year. Last month 3.4 percent of the Southland homes that sold had been flipped – bought and re-sold within a six-month period. That’s the same flipping rate as in April, but it’s up from 1.5 percent a year ago. Last month flipping varied from as little as 2.8 percent of sales in Orange and Riverside counties to as much as 4.4 percent in Ventura County.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above-average, MDA DataQuick reported.