DQNews Archived Article

Southland Home Sales Dip

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
May, 2000

La Jolla, CA.— The number of Southern California homes sold last month declined, the result of rising mortgage interest rates, stock market turbulence and tight inventory, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 25,122 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura, San Diego, Orange and San Bernardino counties in April. That was down 12.2 percent from 28,609 for March, and down 6.7 percent from 26,935 for April last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The year-over-year decline was the strongest since July 1995 when sales declined 15.3 percent.

"Either this is a temporary lull in sales, or this marks the beginning of a sales decline. Our numbers indicate that it's a lull, that sales will stay strong, but won't increase much. We do expect prices to continue to rise at a moderate pace," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a home was $201,000 last month. That was down 1.5 percent from $204,000 for March, and up 6.9 percent from $188,000 for April a year ago. Because of a robust entry-level market, the rise in median price understates the rise in home values. The annual appreciation rate is actually 9-10 percent.

DataQuick, which was sold last month to Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, 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 estimated because of incomplete data availability.

Inland Empire sales continued to rise, bucking the regional trend. The April sales counts were the strongest of any April on record, DataQuick reported.