Housing Sales

The late summer and early fall surge in Ventura County's housing market continued in October, although sales declined from September. Resales of single-family houses totaled 489 last month, up from 459 in October, 1992, but down from September's 576, according to Dataquick Information Systems. The median price of houses sold in the county in October was $210,000.

Despite an upward trend in mortgage rates, sales of new single-family houses edged up nearly 1% last year to 677,000 units, the Commerce Department said today. Economists, noting that the housing market is usually acutely sensitive to interest rate changes, attributed the increase to the strong U.S. economy, which created 3.7 million jobs and boosted personal income 7.5% last year.

Sales of existing houses rose in 1988 to the highest level in nine years, but climbing costs caused buyers to choose lower-priced houses, a national real estate group said today. The National Assn. of Realtors said 3.63 million single-family houses were resold in 1988 for a 2.9% increase from 1987, the highest level since 3.83 million in 1979. It said sales of existing houses rose 11.4% in December from November to 4.09 million units at an annual rate.

Sales of existing single-family houses and condominiums in the San Fernando Valley plunged 25% from July to August, while the number of properties for sale reached an all-time high, the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors reported Monday. A total of 974 residences were sold during August, down from 1,296 in July and 2.5% below the 999 homes sold in August, 1990.

More houses and condominiums were sold in the San Fernando Valley in August than in any month since 1979, but the average cost of both types of residences fell slightly below record prices set in July, the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors reported Monday. Some 2,174 houses and condominiums were sold in August, the first time since the 1970s that monthly sales surpassed the 2,000 mark, and it marks the highest total since May, 1979, when 2,193 residences were sold.

The Building Industry Assn. of Southern California had planned an elaborate promotion of new homes for sale throughout the Southland. Enthused builder members described it as a "Home Mart" event, on a scale they had never before attempted. But just before party time, 70% of the participating builders called in to Kenneth W. Willis, executive vice president of the BIA-SC, to report, not sheepishly, they had nothing left to sell.

In August, when television producer John ("Real People") Barbour put his four-bedroom house in Toluca Lake up for sale for $1.2 million, he figured it would sell in a breeze. The house has a pool, a Jacuzzi, is close to the studios--and three months later it's still looking for a new owner. "It's taking a little longer than we thought," Barbour said. Nobody is more eager to find a buyer than Barbour's broker, Sol Taylor of Jon Douglas Co.

Combined sales of existing single-family houses and condominiums in Simi Valley, Moorpark and Santa Rosa plunged 20% in January, despite an increase in the number of condominiums sold, the Simi Valley-Moorpark Assn. of Realtors said. A total of 110 houses and condominiums were sold in January, the association reported, in contrast with 138 sales in December. January's total, however, was up 28% from a year earlier, when 86 houses and condominiums were sold.

Led by weakness in the fragile Northeast, sales of new homes fell to their lowest level in September since the recession eight years ago, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Single-family home sales plunged 6% last month after declines of 1.8% in August and 0.9% in July, the department said. The latest drop pushed home sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 503,000 units in September, the slowest pace since the 480,000-unit rate in recession-era October, 1982, it said.

Housing sales in Ventura County continued to lag in September even though 3,000 jobs have been created since the start of the year and mortgage rates are falling, an economist said Friday. A total of 786 residences were sold countywide last month, down 9.5% from the 869 sold in September, 1994, according to a report by TRW-REDI Property Data. Sales were mixed across the county, with Simi Valley and Moorpark showing sharp drops in the number of escrow closings, according to the report.