DQNews Archived Article

Southland Home Prices Up, Sales Flat

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
February, 2000

La Jolla, CA.— Home prices in Southern California continued to climb in January while the sales pace was flat, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 16,650 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties last month. That was down 35.3 percent from 25,715 for the month before, and down 2.2 percent from 17,017 for January last year, according to DataQuick.

A decline from December to January is normal for the season, the year-over-year decline was the first since last July when sales counts went down 1.7 percent.

"Sales have been going up for the past four-and-a-half years, at some point they'll level off. The recent increases in mortgage interest rates have no doubt put some purchase decisions on hold, but that effect is probably temporary. We're still expecting a strong market this spring and summer," said Mike Ela, president of DataQuick.

The median price paid for a Southland home was $195,000 in January. That was down 1.5 percent from $198,000 for December and up 8.9 percent from $179,000 for January a year ago. The year-over-year increase was the strongest since August 1998 when it increased 10 percent to $187,000.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. The numbers for San Bernardino County are estimates because of late data availability.

Southland home prices remain reasonable compared to prices in the Bay area. While prices up north were 20 percent higher ten years ago, they are 60 percent higher now, with the median at $318,000, DataQuick reported.