The median home price in California witnessed its fourth consecutive month of year-to-year increases, post more than two years of declines, highlighting that a lasting recovery may be getting firmer, a tracking firm revealed.

San Diego-based MDA DataQuick on Thursday reported that the California's median home price registered a whopping 11.2% climb in February from the same period a year ago as fewer foreclosure properties sold, however, the number of homes sold witnessed a slip by 3.8%.

The median for the state boosted to $249,000 from $224,000 in February 2009 and about 1 percent from $247,000 in January.

Richard Green, who directs the University of Southern California's Lusk Centre for Real Estate, quoted, "Banks are not good at looking forward; they're good at looking back, and that frightens them".

"But if mortgage performance improves, lenders will be more comfortable and you'll see finance loosen up a little bit", he added.

However, lending did not depict enough signs of decreasing in February to hold back a year-to-year drop in home sales.

Also, above 28,100 homes were sold in the state in February, risen about 1 percent from January but down nearly 4 percent from February 2009.