Records and Near-Records in SoCal Home Market

April 14, 2005

La Jolla,CA----While home prices in Southern California hit a new peak last month, the rate of appreciation eased back to its lowest level in more than a year. Sales were near record levels, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 32,674 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in March. That was up 52.7 percent from February's 21,394, and down 0.1 percent from 32,717 for March last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Sales always increase significantly from February to March. Last month was the second-strongest March in DataQuick's statistics, which go back to 1988. March last year, with only 43 more, was the strongest.

"There have been some pretty dire predictions about the real estate market, it looks like a lot of the analysts are going to have to go back to their drawing boards. Everyone expects some cooling off, the bigger question is whether there will be a so-called soft landing or a crash. As things look right now, the soft landing scenario looks more likely," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southern California home was $439,000 last month, a new record. That was up 3.3 percent from $425,000 in February, and up 18.6 percent from $370,000 for March 2004. Last month was the first time in 16 months that year-over-year price increases were below 20 percent. Last month's year-over-year increase varied from 12.5 percent in San Diego County to 34.8 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 $1,983 last month, up from $1,905 for the previous month, and up from $1,602 for March a year ago. While last month's typical payment was a new peak, it is still about 8 percent below what it was in spring 1989 when adjusted for inflation.

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 Mar-04	No Sold Mar-05	Pct. Chg	Median Mar-04	Median Mar-05	Pct. Chg
Los Angeles	10,875	10,878	0.0%	$375K	$440K	17.3%
Orange County	4,902	5,033	2.7%	$485K	$565K	16.5%
San Diego	5,312	5,018	-5.5%	$424K	$477K	12.5%
Riverside	5,939	5,915	-0.4%	$300K	$379K	26.3%
San Bernardino	4,173	4,327	3.7%	$221K	$298K	34.8%
Ventura	1,516	1,503	-0.9%	$461K	$535K	16.1%
So. California	32,717	32,674	-0.1%	$370K	$439K	18.6%

Source: DQNews.com

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909) 867-9534

Copyright 2004 DataQuick Information Systems.
All rights reserved.