New Peak for Southland Home Prices

March 15, 2005

La Jolla,CA----Home prices in Southern California continued their upward march last month as sales remained relatively high. Buying activity and appreciation rates were particularly strong in affordable neighborhoods, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 21,394 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in February. That was down 1.3 percent from January's 21,680, and down 7.0 percent from 23,004 for February last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last year's February was the strongest DataQuick has in its statistics, which go back to 1988. San Bernardino and Riverside counties now account for 33.3 percent of all Southland sales.

"We thought all that rain two or three months ago would dampen the foot traffic. If that happened and some sales activity was put off, we could be in for a fairly strong March. The strength of the market does still surprise us, although we still think appreciation rates are due to come down," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southern California home was $425,000 last month, a new record. That was up 2.4 percent from $415,000 in January, and up 21.1 percent from $351,000 for February 2004. Year- over-year home price increases have been above 20 percent for 13 months in a row. Last month's year-over-year increase varied from 16.3 percent in San Diego County to 41.1 percent in San Bernardino County.

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 $1,905 last month, up from $1,822 for the previous month, and up from $1,542 for February a year ago. Last June it was $1,928, although the typical payment when adjusted for inflation is still about 10 percent below what it was in spring 1989.

Indicators of market distress are still largely absent. Foreclosure activity has bottomed out, but is still low. Down payment sizes are stable, as are flipping rates and non-owner occupied buying activity , DataQuick reported.

All Homes	No Sold Feb-04	No Sold Feb-05	Pct. Chg	Median Feb-04	Median Feb-05	Pct. Chg
Los Angeles	7,723	7,056	-8.6%	$352K	$424K	20.5%
Orange County	3,248	2,890	-11.0%	$475K	$555K	16.8%
San Diego	3,927	3,442	-12.4%	$406K	$472K	16.3%
Riverside	4,198	4,084	-2.7%	$285K	$372K	30.5%
San Bernardino	2,990	3,040	1.7%	$207K	$292K	41.1%
Ventura	918	882	-3.9%	$440K	$521K	18.4%
So. California	23,004	21,394	-7.0%	$351K	$425K	21.1%

Source: DQNews.com

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909) 867-9534

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