Resales in San Diego Take Leap Over 1984 : Transfer of Ownership of Existing Houses Accelerated During Third Quarter This Year
San Diego County recorded 27,189 home resales in the first nine months of 1985, a 4.8% increase from the 25,940 recorded in the same period last year, according to an analysis of deed recordings by Safeco Title Insurance Co.
A 19.7% increase of resales during the third quarter--10,464 compared with 8,740 in the same period in 1984--offsets a 2.7% decrease in resales in the first half of 1985, according to Safeco.
“The strong third quarter clearly demonstrates that stable interest rates have allowed people to move up into more expensive housing,” according to Denis V. Rottler, Safeco vice president and San Diego area manager.
Increase in Annual Sales
He added that the resale market, the last segment of the housing market “to respond to the healthy economy,” has now been substantially ahead of comparable 1984 statistics for three months in a row.
Annualized, San Diego County home resales will reach 36,252, a 6.5% increase from the 34,029 recorded in all of 1984. New-home sales in 1985, based on annualized nine-month figures, will reach 15,521, an 11.8% increase from last year’s total of 13,882, Rottler added.
“These numbers total a possible 51,773 home sales in San Diego County this year,” he said. “To put this into proper perspective, it is necessary to compare these numbers to the 29,002 home sales recorded during 1982.”
New San Diego Housing Experiences Upward Swing
The new-housing market in San Diego has experienced an upward swing for the third quarter in a row, with a total of 4,180 sales reported in the second quarter, marking a 7.2% increase over sales recorded in the first quarter. Only 2,396 sales were registered during the fourth quarter of 1984.
These are findings in “Residential Trends,” a quarterly housing report developed by Market Profiles of San Diego.
Historically, San Diego County experiences a strong first-quarter sale total followed by a decline in the second quarter. Russell Valone, principal of the San Diego market-research firm, attributed the resurgence of sales activity during the second quarter of this year to the decline of mortgage interest rates.
