Are San Fernando Valley home prices finally declining from their record highs?

A recent report says yes.

But buyers might not feel much relief. Homes are still pretty expensive.

The median price of a single-family home dropped from a record high of $671,500 in March to $630,000 in April, a 6.2 percent month-to-month decrease, according to the Southland Regional Association of Realtors.

Why should you care?

Prices were really surging until last month.

The median price tag in March — the number at which half the homes for sale cost more and half less — shattered previous records in the San Fernando Valley. Basically, if you were house hunting, you probably faced a lot of bidders as well as low inventory, another factor contributing to the high prices.

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“There simply are not enough properties available to meet normal demand, which would ease pressure on prices and reduce multiple offers,” said Tim Johnson, the association’s CEO.

But the small tick downward means buyers who may have thought they couldn’t compete in bidding are coming back into the picture.

Buyers themselves are collectively nudging prices down after months of having to battle over the slim number of homes on the market.

“They are finally saying, ‘let’s slow those down,’” said Nancy Starczyk, the association’s president, referring to the bidding wars that have defined the housing market lately.

“They are realizing, ‘let’s not jump in, bidding way over the asking prices.’”

And sellers also are recognizing they don’t want to be on the hook for a home that fetches a bid much higher than its appraisal value.

Not all buyers have the extra cash, she said.

Still, Starczyk said her clients recently have at least a fighting chance at a home, with a bid at or even a tad below the asking price.

The numbers

For a sense of just how acute the housing inventory problem is, look back to July 1992. At the time, there were 14,976 “active listings” on the market, according to the association.

This year, April ended with 1,204 homes on the market in the Valley. That’s not far from the lowest supply ever, in December 2012, when there were 955 listings.

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And remember those days during the Great Recession, when foreclosed properties were flooding the market? That time is long gone. There were only 12 foreclosure-related homes on the market in April, about a 2 percent share of the market, according to the association.

Even though prices are coming down, it’s not exactly a panacea for home buyers.

The April median home price of $630,000 was up 3.3 percent from a year ago.

Fewer homes are changing hands versus last year, too. Only 476 single-family homes were sold during the month. That was down 7.4 percent from a year ago.

The market will continue growing, observers said.

But “it may not be as robust as it’s been,” Starczyk said, adding that summer months also bring a bit of a leveling off.