Orange County's median home price ended 2009 at $435,000, a 9.6% increase from where home prices here stood a year earlier.

The median price of an OC home increased $2,750 from November to December, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.

OC’s median home price is still about 33% below its highest point of $645,000, which was seen in June 2007. The lowest median price seen here during the downturn was last January, when prices dropped to $370,000.

December sales totals in OC totaled 2,885 homes. That’s an increase of about 14% from November, and is up nearly 12% from a year earlier.

The median price of a Southern California home and condo was $289,000 in December, a 1.4% increase from November and a 4% increase from a year earlier, MDA DataQuick reported. The median peaked at $505,000 in mid-2007.

It was the eighth straight month-to-month gain for median home prices in the Southland, aided largely by a shift in the mix of homes being sold.

Foreclosure sales—where a foreclosure had occurred at some point in the prior year—made up about 40% of all Southland sales last month, down from a high of 57% seen last February.

Southland sales totals in December increased about 12% from a year ago.