Continued Southland Sales Surge

November 19, 2003

La Jolla,CA----Demand for homes in Southern California remained at its peak in October as buyers took advantage of still reasonable mortgage interest rates.

A total of 32,522 homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in October. That was down 0.9 percent from 32,813 for the month before and up 12.0 percent from 29,048 for October a year ago.

Last month's sales count was the strongest for any October DataQuick has in its records, which go back to 1988. So far this year 299,932 Southland homes have been sold, up 5.4 percent from 284,498 for the same period last year.

"We thought the sales pace would ease back a bit after the August-September surge, but that hasn't happened. The market is strong in all categories, so there is no reason to think that trends will change between now and the end of the year. There is little doubt that 2003 will go down as a record year," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southern California home was $333,000 in October. That was down 0.6 percent from September's $335,000, and up 19.8 percent from $278,000 for October last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

DataQuick, a subsidiary of 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 typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,519 in October, up from $1,516 for the previous month and up from $1,309 for October a year ago, DataQuick reported

Indicators of market distress are still largely absent. Foreclosure rates are low, flipping rates are low, down payment sizes are stable and there have been no significant shifts in market mix, DataQuick reported.

All Homes	No Sold Oct-02	No Sold Oct-03	Pct. Chg	Median Oct-02	Median Oct-03	Pct. Chg
Los Angeles	10,422	11,805	13.3%	$273K	$332K	21.6%
Orange County	4,267	4,655	9.1%	$369K	$440K	19.2%
San Diego	4,441	5,179	16.6%	$339K	$387K	14.2%
Riverside	4,718	5,278	11.9%	$220k	$262K	19.1%
San Bernardino	3,693	3,988	8.0%	$164K	$204K	24.4%
Ventura	1,507	1,617	7.3%	$331K	$401K	21.1%
So. California	29,048	32,522	12.0%	$278K	$333K	19.8%

Source: DQNews.com

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