DQNews Archived Article

So. California Home Sales — Mixed Signals in 95

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
January, 1996

La Jolla,CA— As last year came to an end, the Southern California real estate market continued to send mixed signals, a real estate information service reported. A total of 17,408 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties in December. That was up 8.9 percent from 15,983 the month before and down 2.8 percent from 17,901 for December a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

An increase in sales from November to December is normal for the season. Southland home sales were down 15.8 percent during the first half of 1995 and then picked up as mortgage interest rates went down. The year-over-year decline in December was the first since July. The Southland sales count for 1995 as a whole was 188,111, down 8.7 percent from 206,038 in 1994. "With mixed signals like the ones the market is sending now, we're obviously at some sort of turning point. We have seen significant shifts in market mix this past year. It'll be interesting down the line to see how much of the shift is permanent and how much can be attributed to low interest rates," said Donald L. Cohn, DataQuick CEO.

Entry-level homes account for an ever-growing share of the market, and high-end homes are now selling well at lower prices. Homes in the 'move-up' category are selling poorly. Sales of newly-built homes surged last month to the highest level in a year. A total of 2,854 new homes were sold in December, up 36.5 percent from November's 2,091 and down 5.4 percent from 3,017 for December a year ago. Last month's new-home sales count was the third highest for any month since mid-1991.

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

All Homes

	#Sold	#Sold	Pct.	Med(K)	Med(K)	Pct.
County	Dec-94	Dec-95	Chng.	Dec-94	Dec-95	Chng.
Los Angeles	7,453	6,881	-7.7	$166	$160	-3.6
Orange County	3,075	3,003	-2.3	$205	$190	-7.3
San Diego	2,595	2,697	3.9	$171	$164	-4.1
Riverside	2,001	1,952	-2.4	$130	$130	0
San Bernardino	1,842	2,038	10.7	$124	$119	-4
Ventura	935	837	-10.5	$190	$192	1.1
So. California	17,901	17,408	-2.8	$166	$159	-4.2

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

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

Copyright © 1996 DataQuick Information Systems.
All rights reserved.