UPDATE 1-So. California April home sales surge on low prices

(Adds analysts' comments)

By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19 (Reuters) - The housing market in Southern California roared back to life with a record one-month sales increase for April as a glut of foreclosed homes lured bargain-hunters, according to a private report on Monday.

Sales in the region jumped 21.9 percent in April to the highest level in eight months and rebounded from March, which was the worst month for sales since DataQuick Information Systems Inc started compiling its information in 1988.

Sales on average rise around 1 percent in April from March, according to DataQuick.

Sales were strongest for homes priced less than $500,000 in inland areas hardest hit by crashing prices and record foreclosures, the real estate information service's report said.

"Quite a few more buyers stepped off the sidelines last month to snap up homes at substantial discounts," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick's president.

"It's no surprise, given the magnitude of the price declines in inland areas and the fact sales have been so amazingly low for so long," Prentice said.

A total of 15,615 new and resale houses and condominiums sold last month in the region -- Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. While sales rose from the previous month, they were still down 19 percent from a year earlier, marking the weakest April in 13 years, the real estate information service said in its report.