Valley home sales show improvement

San Fernando Valley home sales crept up 5.5 percent in May from a year earlier as more evidence emerged that a real-estate market recovery is gaining traction, a trade association said Tuesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Valley families and investors bought 708 previously owned houses last month, up from 669 a year earlier, said the Van Nuys-based Southland Regional Association of Realtors. That was 2.5 percent more than in April, when 691 homes changed hands.

Home sales have now increased from the prior year for 11 consecutive months - enough to reduce the inventory to a 3.8 month supply, a low level reminiscent of the boom market at the early part of the decade.