If you want to buy a home in the San Fernando Valley, make sure you’ve got money — lots of it.

The median price of a home in the area hit $671,500 — the highest ever on record for March.

The last time a home’s median cost — the price at which half the homes are less and half are more – was this high in the area it was June 2007, when the housing bubble was about to burst and the median was $655,000, according to the Southland Regional Association of Realtors report out Tuesday.

Demand outstripping supply

“It’s age old supply and demand at work,” said Nancy Starczyk, president of the 9,600-member association, in a statement that accompanied the latest numbers. “Demand for housing is high and buyers outnumber the supply of homes listed for sale, which leads to dreaded bidding wars.”

And the supply of homes available to buy is really low. Consider this: The standard supply of homes over the last 30 years was about six months – that is, six months worth of inventory for sale. But since 2012, the association says, that supply has rarely topped a four-month supply. And in March, it dipped below a two-month supply.

Low supply plus really high demand equals $671,500.

Steve Tipp, a Realtor with Sotheby’s in the Calabasas area, noted that interests rates are also at play. People are rushing to buy before they go way too high, he said.

“No longer is there a threat that interests rates are going up. They are going up,” he said. “The demand is driven by not only fear of rising interest rates. But a reality of rising interest rates.”

A year ago, they were in the 3’s. Now, there’ the potential of being over 5 in a year, and that’s got buyers on the move, Tipp said.

Who’s buying — and where?

Tipp said buyers in his area span from brain surgeons to young couples.

“Particularly in the part of the market where mortals live, it’s multiple offers and bidding wars all over again,” he said.

He said the higher end of the market isn’t as hot as the mid-range. The young couple tired of renting is another sector of the market that is seeing prices through the roof.

Buyers who are able to pay the most are the ones swooping up the homes, according to the Realtors Association.

And they are people who still see Southern California — and the Valley — as a draw.

But to live that life, you pay a price.

“Southern California remains a draw thanks to its fine weather, access to mountains and beaches, and vibrant economy,” Starczyk said in her statement. “Yet few newcomers appreciate that housing is so much more expensive here than the rest of the nation, that options for new construction are limited, and that local communities resist higher density.”

So cheap, so long ago…

The new median price number for March was up 13.3 percent from a year ago, and was a definite leap from most of 2016, when the median price was stuck in the $600,000s, according to the association. Back then, buyers resisted paying more, and the “pool” of buyers who could afford such prices had constricted.

But the new numbers are in another galaxy compared to the low point not so long ago.

Just take March 2011, after the bubble had burst in the midst of the Great Recession: The median cost of a single-family home in the San Fernando Valley was $370,000, according to the association.

And if you go way back to March 1998, the median price of a single-family home in the San Fernando Valley was a whopping $180,000.