Housing Prices

Sales of existing single-family houses in Simi Valley, Moorpark and Santa Rosa crept upward last year by 1.6%, but were still well below the region's peak years in the late 1980s, according to a report by the Simi Valley-Moorpark Assn. of Realtors. Prices of homes in the region, however, continued to slip in 1992, with the average single-family house selling for $231,589, down 2.8% from the $238,283 average in 1991. For all of last year, 1,486 houses were sold.

Housing prices will rise over the next five years by more than 5% a year, a pace that rivals the 1980s, which saw some of the biggest gains ever in Orange County, a leading economist predicts.

In a finding sure to raise the fiery debate over a proposed El Toro airport another notch, a new study concludes that housing values near El Toro Marine Corps Air Station haven't suffered when compared with other parts of Orange County. The Anaheim information services firm Experian found house and condominium prices within a 6.5-mile radius of the site appreciated 0.7% over a 13-month period through February, while values elsewhere in the county rose 1.1%.

Housing prices in Los Angeles and Orange counties streaked higher last month, but the number of homes sold fell sharply, signaling to analysts that the market may be cooling down as it heads into the prime home-buying season. The drop-off in buyers in April reflects the region's thinning supply of affordable homes as well as rising interest rates.

Home prices soared nearly 13% nationwide last year, a government report indicated, but that could mark the sector's peak as data this year suggest a long-awaited slowdown has begun. The 2005 increase brought appreciation to nearly 58% over the last five years, according to data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

China's up-and-coming money men, having sent the country's novice stock markets lurching between boom and bust, are now "cooking the ground"--feverishly speculating in real estate. From tropical Hainan island in the south to the industrial rust belt of the north, speculators everywhere in China are "chao dipi," which literally translates as "frying up the ground."

All dressed up with no place to go, three dozen real estate agents gather in a West Bank Presbyterian church for their weekly sales meeting, hoping for words of encouragement amid sprawling residential ruin. Sitting beneath large velvet banners that read, "Lamb of God," "Prince of Peace" and "King of Kings," the spoken message from the head of Latter & Blum Inc., was all about mammon at a recent meeting. Big money is headed this way as housing prices in the most devastated region of the U.S.

Orange County's housing market continued to sizzle last month as sales surged 34.8% from the year before and the median home price climbed 7.3% to $207,000, a real estate data firm reported Wednesday. A total of 3,953 homes were sold in the county, up from 2,933 in September 1996. The market for higher-priced new homes was especially strong, and sales overall showed only a 1% decline from August.

A combination of declining mortgage interest rates and housing prices made homes more affordable for the average American family in September than they had been in 14 years, the National Assn. of Realtors said Thursday. Its housing affordability index was 116.1, up from a revised 111.2 in August. It was the largest monthly gain since record keeping began in 1971 and the highest since May, 1977, when it measured 118.6. In September of 1990 it was 110.2.

Housing prices in Orange County are sure to rise as a result of the county's Chapter 9 bankruptcy, local real estate experts said this week. Home builders expect to be hit hard with new user fees and increased building permit costs as cash-strapped cities, special districts and the county seek ways to shore up their depleted finances. As in the past, developers will pass the added costs on to consumers in the form of higher home prices.