DQNews Archived Article

Strong SoCal Home Sales Continue!

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
January, 1997

La Jolla, CA.— Led in part by a sales surge of newly built homes, Southern California home sales posted another gain in December as prices also showed signs of recovery, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 19,202 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties in December. That was up 14.4 percent from 16,785 in November and up 10.3 percent from 17,408 for December a year ago (see chart), according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The increase from November to December is normal for the season. The year-over-year increase in December was the twelfth in a row.

A total of 3,438 newly-built homes were sold in the six-county region in December, up 58.9 percent from 2,163 in November and up 20.5 percent from 2,854 for December 1995. Last month's new home sales count was the highest since December 1990 when 3,735 were sold.

"Right now there is significant sales activity is all home categories, from the entry-level market on up through the move-up and prestige markets. That's healthy for the market," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

"What we are watching now are price levels. Prices in some areas are still wobbly, while they're going up in others. Prices are edging up in about half of all Southland communities. Older established markets are doing fine, while condo and newly-built entry-level home markets are shaky," he said.

The December median sales price for all homes was $164,000. That was up 1.9 percent from $161,000 for November and up 3.1 percent from $159,000 for December a year ago. On a year-over-year basis, the median has been unchanged or has gone up every month since May. Changes in market mix can play a role, and part of the current price increase can be attributed the jump in new home sales. The current median for newly-built homes is $206,000.

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