SAN DIEGO - Home sales surged 22 percent in April in Southern part of California as bargain hunters bought lower-end homes in areas hardest hit by foreclosures, according to a research company. Sales of resale and new homes and condos reached 15,617 in April, up from 12,808 in March and the highest monthly total since August.

The monthly increase of 22% in the six-county region is well above the average gain of only 1.2% from March to April the company began keeping statistics in 1988. Houses under $500,000 accounted for two-thirds of the monthly gain, and the firm Riverside County calls the 'epicenter' of foreclosures and cost declines in Southern California, posted the region's only annual sales increase, its first in two years.

April's median house prices in Southern California were $385,000, down 24 percent from $505,000 in April 2007. Despite the sales surge since March, April sales were down 19 percent from 19,269 in the same period last year, marking the weakest April tally since 1995. "We continue to look for evidence of a sales bounce in the mid-priced and higher-end markets along the coast," Prentice said, the company's president.