Housing market momentum continued into 2017, with both home prices and sales showing small gains in January from year-ago levels, CoreLogic reported Monday.

The median price of an Orange County home – or price at the midpoint of all sales – was $635,000 in January, according to the real estate data firm.

That may be down $30,000, or 4.5 percent, from December. But December-to-January drops are typical, reflecting the drop-off in escrows during the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season. January price drops have occurred in 27 of the past 29 years.

But last month’s median was up $16,000 or 2.6 percent from January 2016, marking the 57th straight month of year-over-year price gains. The 2.6 percent gain, however, was the smallest since October 2015.

Sales, meanwhile, rose 3.1 percent from year-ago levels to 2,351 transactions. That’s the highest sales tally for a January since 2013.

The trend is similar for the region as a whole.

The median Southern California home price was up 5.3 percent to $455,000, CoreLogic reported, while sales regionwide increased 5.4 percent to 15,422 homes. That, again, is the highest sales tally for a January since 2013.

Prices and sales were up year over year in all six counties in the region. Biggest gains:

• Los Angeles County posting the biggest price gain: The median there rose 7.1 percent to $525,000, CoreLogic figures show.

• San Bernardino County had the biggest sales jump, with transactions there up 17.8 percent to 2,163 deals closed.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7734 or jcollins@ocregister.co

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