DQNews Archived Article

Southern California Home Sales on the Rise

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
June, 1996

La Jolla,CA— The upswing in Southern California home sales continued through May amid indications that prices may have bottomed out, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 21,467 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties in May. That was up 8.8 percent from 19,728 in April and up 32.6 percent from 16,195 for May last year (see chart), according to DataQuick Information Systems.

May's sales count was the highest for any single month since August 1990 when 24,298 homes were sold. So far this year 85,867 homes have been sold in Southern California, up 25.3 percent from 68,509 for the same period last year. This year's sales have been the strongest since 1990 when 109,692 were sold during the January-to-May period.

"We're starting to see some activity in market categories that have been stagnant for the past few years, especially the move-up market. We expect sales to stay strong for the next few months, although the increases probably won't be this high. Weêre watching prices closely," said Donald L. Cohn, DataQuick CEO. The median for new and resale houses and condos was "163,000 this May, up 1.9 percent from $160,000 for both the month before and for May last year. All counties except Riverside saw prices go up.

The median price paid for a resale house was "164,000 in May. That was up 1.2 percent from "162,000 for April and up 2.5 percent from "160,000 for May a year ago. The 2.5 percent year-over-year increase is the strongest price increase since mid 1991. Dataquick monitors real estate activity nationwide, and provides information to consumers, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

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