Southland Real Estate Market Hits New Highs

July 18, 2005

La Jolla,CA----Both sales counts and prices reached new highs in Southern California last month. While appreciation continued to ease back, a new price peak was reached in each of the Southland counties. And led by a surge of buying activity in the Inland Empire, sales topped a monthly record set in 1988, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 35,454 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in June. That was up 14.8 percent from 30,886 in May, and up 2.1 percent from 34,731 for June last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

June's sales count edged past the 35,339 reached in August 1988, which, until last month, had been the highest in DataQuick's statistics, which go back to 1988.

"Seventeen years ago, about one of six homes sold in Southern California was in the Inland Empire. Now it's about one in three. While the region is attracting buyers from coastal counties, it's also generating demand on its own this time around," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Southern California home was $465,000 last month, a new record. That was up 2.0 percent from $456,000 in May, and up 14.5 percent from $406,000 for June 2004. The year-over-year price increase was the lowest since March 2002 when the $257,000 median was up 12.7 percent. Year-over-year price changes peaked in May last year at 26.9 percent.

A wide variation in year-over-year price increases reflects how far along individual markets are in their local cycles. San Diego County started seeing double digit price increases in early 2000, last month's annual increase was down to 6.3 percent. In San Bernardino County, double-digit increases started in mid 2002, last month's median was up more than 30 percent.

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 $2,021 last month, down from $2,028 for the previous month, and up from $1,928 for June a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are about 5 percent below their peak in the 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 June-04	No Sold June-05	Pct. Chg	Median June-04	Median June-05	Pct. Chg
Los Angeles	11,673	12,001	2.8%	$414K	$475K	14.7%
Orange County	4,749	4,898	3.1%	$540K	$603K	11.7%
San Diego	6,208	5,663	-8.8%	$464K	$493K	6.3%
Riverside	6,343	6,485	2.2%	$319K	$393K	23.2%
San Bernardino	4,292	4,700	9.5%	$246K	$322K	30.9%
Ventura	1,466	1,707	16.4%	$500K	$584K	16.8%
So. California	34,731	35,454	2.1%	$406K	$465K	14.5%

Source: DQNews.com

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