Housing Sales

Orange County's May median home sales price of $226,000 is the highest for any month, surpassing the June 1991 peak of $223,000. The sales count, 4,507, was down slightly from April's 4,589, which was a record for the '90s. (See story, A1.) Sales, median prices of new and existing homes and condos, by ZIP code: *--* Community Pct. Median Pct. '97 Med. '98 Med. /Zip Sales Chng. price Chng. Sq.Ft.(1) Sq.Ft.(1) Aliso Viejo 92656 123 12.8% $177,500 -2.5% $105 $109 Anaheim 92801 24 -17.

Orange County's median home price surged to an all-time high of $226,000 in May, surpassing even the pre-recession peak, as sales posted their second-busiest month of the decade. In the latest indication that the housing market has recovered from the early 1990s downturn, the typical house gained $29,000 in value in the last year, Acxiom/DataQuick's housing market survey showed Monday. May's median price eclipsed the previous record of $223,000 set in June 1991 and is 14.

The Commerce Department reported that single-family home sales tumbled 9.3% in December, the sharpest monthly drop in more than two years. However, the retreat came after a November gain that was the highest in 11 years. Separately, the private Conference Board research group reported that its index of leading economic indicators, a tool for forecasting economic activity, up to nine months in advance, held steady in December. The index had seen gains for five months straight.

As home sales picked up last year, so apparently did the fastidiousness of Orange County buyers. They looked at 18.8 homes on average before deciding, up from 12 in 1996, according to a survey of recent purchasers. The survey by Chicago Title & Trust Co. also seemed to confirm the county's reputation as a bastion of traditional, conservative, suburban life. Nearly 72% of the home buyers last year said they were married, compared with just 43% in San Francisco.

Sales of newly built U.S. homes slumped at the end of 1997, an otherwise stellar year for housing, while a major economic forecasting gauge was flat, according to two reports released Tuesday that suggest a cooling-down of the sizzling economy. The Commerce Department reported that single-family home sales tumbled 9.3% in December, the sharpest monthly drop in more than two years. The retreat came after a November gain that was the highest in 11 years.

The housing market stayed in high gear throughout Southern California in January and shifted into overdrive in Orange County, where prices rose at a double-digit pace not seen since the late 1980s, a real estate tracking service said Wednesday. The median home price in Los Angeles County was up 6.1% from January 1997 to $173,000 last month, with sales up nearly 16%. The median is the point at which half the sales were for less, half for more.

To help the city buy Caltrans homes that were once in the path of a proposed freeway extension, the area's state senator introduced legislation Friday to require the state to offer surplus residential property to cities before selling it to public or private agencies. The bill by state Sen. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) requires state agencies to offer to cities all surplus housing property that tenants do not want.

The San Fernando Valley's strong buyer's market appears to be in transition, with sellers better able to negotiate prices, according to figures released Monday by a local realty association. More single-family homes were sold in the Valley last month than in any January since 1989, according to the report, in another sign of an improving real estate market. Prices also rose last month, with the average price tag up 3.8% over a year ago to $237,000. The median sale price also increased by 9.

Sales of existing homes rocketed to record levels in January as optimistic consumers, low borrowing costs and low unemployment continued to fuel demand in the housing industry, economists said Wednesday. Sales last month rose 0.7% to an annualized rate of 4.4 million, the National Assn. of Realtors reported. It was the highest monthly annualized rate on record since the association began collecting sales data in 1968. The group also said the December sales rate was revised upward to 4.

This has been the winter of discontent for many real estate agents in Southern California's storm-tossed beach communities. Maneuvering around mudslides and escorting clients through cloudbursts have become part of the job for agents selling some of the region's most picturesque and pricey real estate. Despite the downpours, agents have remained busy selling homes as the region's real estate market stages a rebound.