DQNews Archived Article

Southern California Home Sales Up, Prices Down

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
September, 1995

La Jolla,CA—August was Southern California's strongest home sales month in more than a year, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 19,168 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties last month. That was up 27.1 percent from 15,077 in July and up 0.1 percent from 19,156 for August last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The year-over-year increase was the first of this year. The August sales count was the highest since June 1994 when 21,236 homes were sold.

This is encouraging, but one month does not a trend make. It appears that the low interest rates and relatively low prices are finally having an effect on sales. We think a lot of the August sales activity was generated by fence-sitters who now think that interest rates may have hit bottom, said Donald L. Cohn, DataQuick CEO.

So far this year, 121,430 homes have been sold in Southern California. That is down 13.5 percent from 140,436 for the same period last year. If current trends hold, Southland sales will hit 186,000 by the end of the year, down 9.7 percent from last year's total of 206,038.

DataQuick monitors real estate purchasing and financing activity nationwide, and provides information to consumers, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The median price paid for a home was $161,000 in August, down 4.7 percent from $169,000 a year ago. Prices were in decline until early this year, but have remained relatively stable since February, DataQuick reported.

	#Sold	% Chg.	Med(K)	% Chg.
All homes	Aug-95	Aug-94	Aug-95	Aug-94
Los Angeles	7,795	1.60%	$163	-4.10%
Orange County	3,162	-3.30%	$190	-8.70%
San Diego	3,047	1.00%	$169	-1.20%
Riverside	2,169	0.10%	$124	-2.40%
San Bernardino	1,975	1.00%	$119	-7.00%
Ventura	1,020	-5.00%	$190	-4.50%
So. California	19,168	0.10%	$161	-4.70%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

For more information call John Karevoll (909)867-9534

Copyright © 1995 DataQuick Information Systems.
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